From CNW
NEW YORK & PHILADELPHIA, April 16 /CNW/ - News Corporation, NBC Universal
and Comcast Corporation today announced a comprehensive distribution agreement
in which Comcast's Comcast.net and Fancast.com will serve as key distribution
sites for News Corp. and NBCU's recently announced online video venture. Under
the agreement, Comcast will also provide available non-exclusive content for
domestic distribution on NBCU and News Corp's site from Comcast Networks,
including E!, Style, G4, Versus and Golf Channel and will become the venture's
first non-equity content provider.
In addition, the companies announced the new online video venture will
utilize media management and video distribution technology from thePlatform,
Inc., a Comcast subsidiary and a leading provider of broadband and mobile
video publishing solutions.
"We're delighted that the nation's largest cable provider will be a major
player in this new venture," said Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating
Officer of News Corporation. "News Corp. and NBC have long histories with
Comcast and we're committed to expanding our relationship in this new media
universe. We believe there is a wealth of opportunities to exploit broadband
distribution to benefit both our businesses."
"We are very excited by the positive response our new venture with News
Corp. has generated," said Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal.
"Comcast's participation is yet another affirmation of our strategy to place
top-quality, protected content in as many places as possible."
"We are pleased to have the best of NBC and Fox's TV content available to
our customers on Comcast.net and Fancast.com," said Steve Burke, Chief
Operating Officer, Comcast Corporation, and President of Comcast Cable.
"Making TV content available on multiple devices will enable our customers to
view their favorite shows on television, online and on video-on-demand."
Distribution across Comcast sites will include Comcast.net, and
Fancast.com, a new entertainment site launching this summer that will enable
users to view video as well as search, discover and manage both TV and movie
content.
NBC Universal and News Corporation's recently-announced video site will
launch in the summer with thousands of hours of full-length TV programming,
clips and movies, representing premium content from more than a dozen networks
and two major film studios. The new venture's content will be distributed via
some of the most-popular sites on the Web, including AOL, MSN, MySpace and
Yahoo. The new NBCU/News Corp. joint venture will have offices in Los Angeles
and New York. Permanent management and corporate branding will be announced
shortly.
