Comcast Unveils Online Viewing

Comcast subscribers can now watch several cable TV shows and movies on the Internet. Viewing is only available to subscribers, and what each customer can watch depends on the cable TV package subscribed. All told, Comcast is making programs available from 27 cable channels including HBO and Cinemax. "The launch of the TV Everywhere model indicates that Comcast wants competition nowhere," said Marvin Ammori, a professor of law at University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a senior advisor to Free Press. "These are transparent efforts to preserve the cable cartel that gouges consumers. Comcast wants to be the gatekeeper to the video programming world. This service is a threat to innovative online video and an attempt by the industry to impose the cable-TV model onto the Internet."