• by Wayne Friedman , April 24, 2006

With its first-ever VOD upfront meeting for media buyers in New York on Friday, Comcast Corp. announced that within three months, programming from ABC and Fox will be added to its list of networks to its On Demand service.

Comcast already has existing deals with CBS and NBC, in which consumers can access shows for 99 cents. Some advertising will be carried in these shows--but not necessarily the original advertising that was carried for the show's original network airing.

Comcast's On-Demand programming is still primarily 95 percent free for its customers. It says that adults ages 18 to 34 are the biggest consumers of VOD, accounting for 66 percent of VOD viewing.

Comcast did address advertisers' concerns regarding problems in getting commercials to run across many cable operators at the same time. Comcast showed off a successful buy made by Wal-Mart that bought a VOD advertising package. The big cable operators also said it was working on audience measurement issues as well.

Comcast also talked about its new linear channels. Fear is a broadband and video-on-demand, horror-themed channel. Fear programming comes from its movies partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment through Sony's MGM acquisition. This past year, Comcast launched PBS Sprout as a linear network that can also be accessed through its On Demand service.