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Comcast delivers the World Cup via Instant On Demand

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Philadelphia – Comcast announced on June 11 that it will make every 2014 FIFA World Cup match available in Spanish via the company’s latest On Demand innovation, Instant On Demand. Available for the first time ever in Spanish and only through Xfinity TV, this is the first time the company has leveraged the new technology to make such a broad selection of time-shifted content available in a language other than English.

In addition to live coverage of all 64 matches on the TV and more than 300 hours of On Demand content across devices, soccer fans can live stream matches in multiple languages via the company’s Xfinity TV microsites and Xfinity TV Go app. All 64 matches will be available for live streaming in English and Portuguese, with select matches streamed in Korean. In addition, the Xfinity Latino Entertainment Channel (XLEC) will include direct links to matches and simulcasts of special programming with in-depth analysis of the tournament.

“The World Cup is an opportunity to provide Xfinity TV customers, particularly our Latino and multicultural subscribers with a comprehensive mix of content across multiple platforms and in multiple languages,” said Marcien Jenckes, Executive Vice President, Consumer Services, Comcast Cable. “The World Cup is already the most watched and anticipated event in the world in any language, and we are proud to be able to deliver to our customers not only the culturally relevant content they want most, but also exclusive access to innovations, like Instant On Demand, and even more ways than ever to experience the 2014 World Cup anytime, anywhere and on any device.”

In the home, Comcast will provide an immersive viewing experience on the biggest screen in the house:

  • Comcast’s latest On Demand innovation, Instant On Demand, available for the first time ever in Spanish and only on Xfinity TV, will give Spanish-speaking customers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to access all 64 World Cup matches immediately after the live broadcast begins and throughout the entire tournament exclusively via Xfinity On Demand.
  • In total, Xfinity On Demand will feature approximately 300 hours, or more than 350 unique pieces of World Cup-related programming, such as replays of every match in Spanish and English, the Opening and Closing ceremonies and more. Over 200 of these On Demand choices will be in Spanish including special features and team biographies from partner networks: beIN Sports, Fox Deportes and Telemundo, as well as 16 soccer-themed films and documentaries from: Cine Sony Television, ViendoMovies, FOX Life, Discovery en Español, NUVOtv, and Cinelatino.
  • The X1 Sports app will be refreshed for the World Cup and act as an interactive companion guide where our customers can quickly find, discover and directly access all of the great content available.
  • The Xfinity Latino Entertainment Channel (XLEC), the industry’s only Spanish-language channel available at no additional charge to more than 20 million subscriber homes, will be transformed into a one-stop shop for all things World Cup, including direct links to matches, simulcasts of special Brazil 2014 programming from various Spanish-language sports networks, a news crawl, daily news updates, video and photos, results, standings and more.

For those Xfinity TV customers who want to watch World Cup action on the go, Comcast is making more options than ever available:

  • For the first time, customers will be able to stream all World Cup matches in a variety of languages from the ESPN family of networks, directly accessible via Comcast’s English and Spanish-language microsite, as well as through its Xfinity TV Go mobile app. In addition, Xfinity will have all 64 matches in Portuguese, select matches in Korean, as well as alternate feeds for every game via its web and mobile streams of ESPN3 Surround. Matches in Korean will be easily accessible via www.xfinity.com/asia.
  • Both World Cup microsites, as well as the Xfinity TV Go app, will also include a large selection of On Demand content to stream over the Internet. The microsites will also feature the latest standings and schedules, live scores and updates, match summaries, curated news articles, as well as cross-platform tools to remote tune to a live match or On Demand asset and set a DVR recording.

Brazil 2014 will be the first SEEiT-enabled World Cup, letting both Spanish and English-speaking customers select viewing options directly from conversations happening on Twitter, including the ability to tune their TV directly to a match, set a reminder to watch it, or even set their DVR to record it.