Comcast, a giant cabler, is holding another Xfinity Watchathon Week, kicking off April 27-May 3. The draw: Flex and Xfinity X1 users will gain free access to SVOD premium streamers — even if they aren’t subscribers.
While Disney+ and Netflix are not participating, other major platforms are making award-winning content available.
Rebecca Heap, SVP, video and entertainment for Comcast, called the Watchathon a “great opportunity to highlight the breadth and depth of everything we offer across both X1 and Flex.”
Here’s what Comcast customers gain:
HBO Max will make its HBO library free for the week, alongside some HBO Max originals, such as Kaley Cuoco’s “The Flight Attendant.” HBO’s library is vast and includes, for example, all of “Game of Thrones” and “The Nevers.”
Also, the first three seasons of “The Handmaid’s Tale” will be streamable on Hulu, prior to its fourth season debut later this week. Hulu originals, such as “Palm Springs,” which was a big hit at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and “A Teacher” are streamable.
For “Walking Dead” fans, AMC+ has all the zombie seasons, as well as “Gangs of London” and the platform’s original “Spy City.”
Showtime, Starz and Epix will also showcaes their full on-demand offerings for Watchathon Week. Content is varied, from Epix’s “Godfather of Harlem” to Showtime’s “City on a Hill.”
Niche streamers like Acorn TV, which highlights British and Australian fare, is participating. So is Lifetime Movie Club, Hallmark Movies Now, Kocowa, a Korean streamer, Pantaya, a Spanish-language streamer, and Brown Sugar, an African American SVOD.
The cabler said customers have expanded their viewing hours, streaming is up 73 percent year-over-year, even though Comcast reported a loss of 248,000 net video subs in Q4 2020.