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Cable Technology Feature Article

December 23, 2009

Comcast Offers Free Greetings From Military for Christmas

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor


Another worthy cause this reporter is glad to help publicize: For the sixth consecutive year, Comcast is offering Troop Greetings On Demand at no additional cost to its digital cable customers through the end of January. 
 
The service delivers Christmas greetings from military personnel stationed overseas to their loved ones back home to watch whenever and as often as they wish. The video greetings are accessible under the 'Get Local' section of Comcast's (News - Alert) signature On Demand menu, and run anywhere from five to twenty-five seconds.

To compile Troop Greetings On Demand, Comcast secured hundreds of videotapes from Army/Air Force Hometown News Service and edited them into short video greetings for viewers. This week, Comcast green-lighted families in Michigan who have messages waiting for them to tell them how to view their holiday salutes.

'This special time of year is about family, friends and good will in the community, and we are proud to use our On Demand technology to bring holiday greetings from our troops overseas to their loved ones back home as part of our commitment to powering dreams in the communities where we live and work,' Tom Coughlin, senior vice president of Comcast's Michigan Region, said in a statement.
 
The greetings are part of Comcast's growing On Demand lineup, which now offers more than 17,000 programs a month that can be viewed on customers' own schedules with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind.

In some areas, Comcast will provide complimentary digital service upgrades for families of service personnel seen in this year's greetings who are Comcast Standard Cable customers. The upgrades will be offered for the duration of the Troop Greetings On Demand program.
 
Earlier this month, Comcast announced the findings of its 'Home for the Holidays Survey,' which polled consumers on their Christmas entertainment preferences, finding that the most popular Christmas movie is, unsurprisingly, “A Christmas Story” at 38 percent, followed by “Home Alone” at 11 percent, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at 11 percent, “A Christmas Carol” at 7 percent and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at 5 percent.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Amy Tierney