`Troop Greetings ON DEMAND' Bring Distant Service Members Home For The Holidays

`Troop Greetings ON DEMAND' Bring Distant Service Members Home For The Holidays

Comcast Cable Eastern Division Makes Hundreds of ON DEMAND Messages from Military Personnel Serving in Faraway Posts Available to Local Family and Friends

OAKS, Pa., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In time for the holidays, Comcast today announced the launch of "Troop Greetings ON DEMAND," a service that allows the families and friends of military personnel stationed overseas to view special holiday greetings from their loved ones any time of the day or night and as often as they like, at no additional cost. Troop Greetings will be available through the "Get Local" category of Comcast's video on demand service through January 22, 2007.

With the help of CN8, The Comcast Network, hundreds of videotapes from Army/Air Force Hometown News Service were secured and edited. Each message includes the service member's name and hometown, and some messages include the serviceperson's family. Troop Greetings ON DEMAND features messages from military personnel and civilian staff stationed around the world at bases in the Middle East, Europe, Cuba, Guam, Japan, Korea and other remote locations.

Previously available in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New England, this year marks the debut of Troop Greetings ON DEMAND in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Approximately 370 messages are available throughout Comcast's Eastern Division, stretching from New York through Virginia.

ON DEMAND allows Comcast digital cable customers to watch the personalized holiday greetings of servicemen and women serving in faraway military posts at a time most convenient for them, and as often as they like. The greetings are part of Comcast's growing ON DEMAND lineup, which offers more than 8,000 programs a month that can be viewed on a customers' own schedule with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind.

"It's tremendously satisfying to harness the power of our ON DEMAND technology to bring this holiday gift to people in our communities who have friends and family stationed overseas," said Michael Doyle, president, Comcast Cable Eastern Division and founder, CN8, The Comcast Network. "Our 'Get Local' video on demand category brings our community involvement to life, providing a platform to offer local and hyper-local programming of interest to our 5.4 million Eastern Division subscribers."

In order to ensure that the family members of service personnel seen in this year's greetings are able to view their loved ones, Comcast will provide complimentary digital service upgrades for those families who are Comcast basic cable subscribers for the duration of the Troop Greetings ON DEMAND program. In addition, the general public can view greetings at Comcast payment centers located throughout the Eastern Division. Comcast has also created a special Web site at http://www.comcast.com/troopgreetings where consumers can learn more about the service and locate specific greetings from each program.

Troop Greetings can be found under the "Get Local" category of the ON DEMAND menu. Once there, select "Troop Greetings" and the respective state.

ON DEMAND Growth

Comcast offers more than 8,000 video on demand program choices, with the vast majority - about 95% - available at no additional cost. ON DEMAND viewing continues to grow dramatically, this year surpassing more than three billion programs viewed since Comcast launched the service in 2004. In Comcast's Eastern Division, approximately 500 million video on demand orders have been placed since the start of the year, with subscribers using the service approximately 18 times a month. Comcast Cable Eastern Division customers have also placed nearly four million "Get Local" video on demand orders - a 41% increase over the same period in 2005 - for popular selections including Pet Adoption ON DEMAND, Fugitive Files ON DEMAND and Candidates ON DEMAND.

For more information about Comcast's products and services, call 1-800-COMCAST or visit the company's web site at http://www.comcast.com/.

About Comcast

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 24.1 million cable customers, 11 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.1 million digital voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's Eastern Division currently serves more than 5.4 million customers along the New York to DC corridor, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and North Carolina. The Eastern Division also founded and manages CN8, The Comcast Network, one of the nation's largest and most honored regional 24-hour diversified television networks, seen by more than nine million homes on the East Coast. The Eastern Division is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

Source: Comcast

CONTACT: Media Contacts: Jeff Alexander, +1-610-650-3065,
jeff_alexander@cable.comcast.com, or Beth Bacha, +1-610-650-1139,
beth_bacha@cable.comcast.com, both of Comcast

Web site: http://www.comcast.com/
http://www.comcast.com/troopgreetings

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