'Troop Greetings on Demand' Bring Far Away Faces Closer to Home for the Holidays

'Troop Greetings on Demand' Bring Far Away Faces Closer to Home for the Holidays

Comcast Delivers 1,000 Troop Messages via Video On Demand, Internet and Podcasts to Millions of Customers from Vermont to Virginia

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 to Digital Cable customers. For the fourth consecutive year, Troop Greetings will be available through the "Get Local" category of Comcast's video on demand service, ON DEMAND, and offered through January 2008. The company also announced an expansion of the program to include online podcasts through CN8, The Comcast Network's website, www.CN8.tv, and online greetings available through Comcast's Internet portal, www.comcast.net. CN8 will also present "CN8 Holiday Troop Greetings," a one-hour special featuring Comcast employees who are military veterans or have family on active duty.

Nearly 1,000 messages are available to almost 9 million customers throughout Comcast's service areas stretching from New England through the D.C. corridor with states including New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia.

Troop Greetings are currently available for viewing in New England and the Pittsburgh region. The messages will be available in the remaining areas beginning the week of December 17.

With assistance from CN8, The Comcast Network, hundreds of videotapes from Army/Air Force Hometown News Service were secured and edited into short video greetings for viewers and high-speed Internet customers. Each message includes the service member's name and hometown, and some messages include the serviceperson's family. Featured messages are from military personnel and civilian staff stationed around the world at bases in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Japan, Alaska, Korea and other locations.

Watch Troop Greetings ON DEMAND

ON DEMAND allows Comcast Digital Cable customers to watch the personalized holiday greetings at a time most convenient for them, and as often as they want. The greetings are part of Comcast's growing ON DEMAND lineup, which offers up to 10,000 programs a month that can be viewed on customers' own schedules with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind. Troop Greetings will be grouped together and categorized by state. Comcast Digital Cable customers can tune to Channel 1 on their Digital Cable lineup or press the ON DEMAND button on their remote control, then click on the "Get Local" section and, once there, select "Troop Greetings" and the respective state. Individual greetings are approximately five to 25 seconds each.

Troop Greetings Special on CN8, The Comcast Network

CN8 will air a "CN8 Holiday Troop Greetings" one-hour special on Christmas Eve, December 24 and Christmas Day, December 25 at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Hosted by Larry Kane of CN8's "Voice of Reason," the program will highlight holiday greetings from hundreds of service people with families and friends in the CN8 viewing area.

The program will also feature Comcast employees who are military veterans or who have immediate family stationed on active duty. Employees from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware and other areas will be interviewed.

Following the air dates, "CN8 Holiday Troop Greetings" will be available ON DEMAND through January 4. The special can be found under "Get Local" by selecting "CN8 Originals" and then "Specials." Excerpts from the special can also be viewed on the CN8 website, www.CN8.tv.

Podcasting on CN8.tv

Beginning December 19, podcasts of all Holiday Troop Greetings will be available for download on www.CN8.tv by clicking on the "Holiday Troop Greetings" link and scrolling down to search for specific greetings by city, state and name. Visitors to the site can click and download greetings to a computer or other device for easy viewing.

Streaming video on www.comcast.net

Troop Greetings will also be available online at www.comcast.net starting December 19.

In some areas, Comcast will provide complimentary digital service upgrades for customers with family members seen in this year's greetings who do not have Digital Cable. In addition, the general public can view greetings at most Comcast payment centers throughout these regions.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (http://www.comcast.com/) is the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 24.2 million cable customers, 12.9 million high-speed Internet customers, and 4.1 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, Comcast SportsNet and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast's Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Comcast Corporation

CONTACT: Gabe Weissman, +1-610-650-1352,
gabriel_weissman@cable.comcast.com, or Marc Goodman, +1-617-562-4305,
marc_goodman@cable.comcast.com, both of Comcast Corporation

Web site:

http://www.comcast.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Troop Greetings screen images are available, and interviews with families can be arranged. Please contact PR group to coordinate.

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