Xfinity Internet Customers to Get Premium Networks, Streaming Services for Free Every Week of 2023
Comcast clearly wants to start the year off right with its Xfinity internet subscribers. The company has announced that it will be launching a new “Free This Week” promotion for Xfinity users, which will give them free access to a premium network or streaming service for one full week. The promotion will run throughout 2023, with a new service or network featured each week.
Helping to ensure health-conscious customers start the new year on the right foot, the first two weeks of “Free This Week” will feature free access to top wellness apps such as The Great Courses, Gaia, One Day University, Gaiam TV, Sweat Factor and FitFusion by Jillian Michaels. Future participating networks and streaming services include HBO Max, SHOWTIME, REVOLT, HISTORY Vault, Lifetime Movie Club, and more.
“Free This Week” programming will be available for Xfinity customers and curated into one simple-to-navigate destination available on the X1 digital interface and Flex streaming boxes. A selection of “Free This Week” programming will also be available on the Xfinity Stream app and Xumo’s XClass TV.
“At Xfinity, we strive to deliver the best entertainment experience to our customers and make it easy for them to access all the programming they subscribe to, and also discover new programming that might be of interest to them,” Comcast EVP Sophia Ahmad said.
“Free This Week” rolls out a decade after Xfinity’s inaugural free content sampling, dubbed “Watchathon Week,” and represents an evolution of the company’s free programming strategy providing customers with something free to watch, every week of the year. New data released by Xfinity shows viewership typically doubles during the time a network or streaming service participates in a content sampling such as “Free This Week.”
The “Free This Week” promotion is similar to the “Freeview Weekends” offered by the live TV streaming service Sling TV in 2022. Sling offered Freeview weekends all last summer, giving users a free watching window for AMC+ Faith and Family, Curiosity Stream, Destination America, EPIX Now, Sundance Now, ViX+, Acorn TV, EPIX, ALLBLK, IFC Films, and more. Sling might carry the promotion over into 2023, as it gave users free access to WE tv at the end of December.
The move to offer free viewing weeks is an interesting one from Comcast. Unlike Sling, which offers free weekends to content that’s already available on its service via add-ons, Comcast will offer users the ability to sample products from direct streaming competitors to Peacock. Comcast clearly has confidence that “Free This Week” viewing will not lead to defections from Peacock, even when it executes its plan to make Xfinity users who were getting Peacock free pay for the service. However, as Comcast continues to move forward with its joint venture with cable competitor Charter to launch a “next-generation streaming platform,” this year-long promotion likely has more to do with the providers’ combined efforts than just that of the Comcast’s individual streamer.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.