Comcast, the country's largest cable operator, has signed a deal with IFC Entertainment to offer selected IFC films to its customers at the very same time those pictures are released in theaters. The
plan goes into effect later this month. The movies offered to Comcast subs will not be the same ones shown on the IFC cable channel, but rather those produced by IFC's independent film-making unit.
The so-called "day-and-date" strategy has not played well with many in the theater business, but there appears for the moment to be an inexorable drive toward a broader experimentation with the
technique. "I think people will go for this offering," says Matt Bond, Comcast's executive vice president of programming. "Viewers can watch the films at home, in cities where they wouldn't have
access." Bond told the Associated Press that the indie film offerings will enhance Comcast's video-on-demand service, giving the cable operator another way to differentiate itself from competitors.
The first IFC indie films to be shown on Comcast will be "American Gun," starring Donald Sutherland.
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