Comcast and Sony look to add a little fright to the Halloween season and beyond by launching a new platform, called FearNet, to provide video content via cellphones, Comcast's video-on-demand service, and the Internet.
FearNet will feature over 200 horror films from Lions Gate, Sony Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The movies will be free using the Comcast On Demand service and FearNet web site.
"Next week on Halloween we'll unveil the new multiplatform network available on video-on-demand, on line and wireless devices. This is FearNet and it will be dedicated to the best of horror programming. There are a lot of good things coming out of our content division and we congratulate the group on all the progress they've made," said Executive Vice President John Alchin of Comcast.
The FearNet web site,
http://www.fear.net/, will launch on October 31st for Halloween. Users will be able to watch free movies online in addition to other content including movie previews and clips such as the Saw 3 trailer. The FearNet web site will also allow viewers to chat while watching horror videos.
Officials at Comcast said FearNet represents the future of their blended solution: offering programming over the Internet and via video-on-demand.
The companies look to profit from the new venture selling advertising on the web site and by providing the on-demand service to other cable companies.