Comcast today is set to enter the growing field of companies offering online streams of TV shows online with the launch of Fancast.
Like AOL's two-year-old In2TV, Fancast is offering a host
of old programs like "Hill Street Blues" and "Remington Steele." The site also has a slate of current programs including "Bones" and "The Office" from NBC/Fox's Hulu.com, CBS and Viacom.
The
new Fancast site also will let users program their DVRs online -- a service that Yahoo has offered to TiVo users for more than two years.
The move seems to position Comcast as a direct
competitor to the portals, which offer TV shows online, and niche services like Joost, not to mention file-sharing sites like BitTorrent. For that reason, the decision to start streaming video also
calls into question the motives of Comcast -- which also is an Internet service provider -- in slowing traffic to BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer sites.
After the Associated Press reported
last year that Comcast was impeding traffic to peer-to-peer sites, the company said it was just taking steps to manage its own network. Apparently, however, Comcast also has a vested interest in
giving people reason to watch video at Fancast as opposed to BitTorrent or any other sites. And that should concern legislators and regulator who are facing questions of net neutrality and whether
companies like Comcast should be able to block traffic at will.