For the third week in a row, Comcast is once again giving their Xfinity X1 and Flex customers more free content to indulge as they remain in lockdowns due to the coronavirus. Today, the telecom giant announced they are releasing “on-demand programming from more than two dozen more entertainment networks and subscription video services available for its Xfinity X1 and Flex customers to enjoy for free in the coming weeks.”
Channels include African-American networks and subscription video services such as AFRO, Aspire TV, Black News Channel, Brown Sugar, Impact Network, kweliTV, REVOLT, The Africa Channel and TV One; Latino networks and subscription video services such as CBeebies, Cinelatino, Cine Sony, Cinema Dinamita MX, Kanal D Drama, Kids Central en español, Pantaya, RCN Novelas, Universo, ViendoMovies and Vme Kids; and international networks and subscription video services including Filipino On Demand, Hi-YAH!, KOCOWA (all programs subtitled in English) and TV5MONDE.
“All year round, we provide our customers with a wide variety of diverse and in-language programming and we’re happy to work with our partners to make a selection available for free,” said Rebecca Heap, SVP, video and entertainment.
Just last week, the company announced they made nearly 2,000 hours of programming for kids K-12 available free of charge for their Xfinity customers. The new content is a joint effort between Comcast and Common Sense Media — a non-profit organization that “provides education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology and media for children” — whose ratings and reviews are integrated into Xfinity on Demand. A subset of the education collection is also available on Xfinity Flex and across devices via the Xfinity Stream app and website.
Prior to that, Comcast also announced they made on-demand catalogs from a series of premium networks and SVOD services available for their Xfinity X1 and Flex customers for free. Networks and services included are Showtime, Epix, CuriosityStream, History Vault, Grokker Yoga Fitness and Wellbeing, The Reading Corner and DogTV.
Beyond free entertainment, Comcast has also taken other measures to assist the public during this time. The company has opened Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots across the country to anyone who needs them for free (including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers). They have also paused data plans, created a COVID-19 news destination on X1 and Flex and made their Internet Essentials program free for new families for the first 60 days of enrollment.