Cable television and internet giant Comcast has taken a lot of heat lately for price increases for its services.
Not only is its average price for services expected to rise by about 3.8% this year, but its broadcast TV and regional sports fees are rising 21% and 15% respectively. Combine the price increases with the occasional service interruption or outage right in the middle of the program or sporting event subscribers are watching, and they can get a little irritated with Comcast (CMCSA).
Things can also get a little more serious for a subscriber with an internet outage when they are working remotely. It's best to have a Starbucks nearby with working Wi-Fi or the subscriber is at the mercy of Comcast's service team.
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Comcast Gave Back With Free Watchathon Content
In past years, Comcast has tried to give a little something back to appease its subscribers with its Watchathon Week, which celebrated its 10th anniversary May 3-9, 2022. Xfinity TV and Internet customers were able to view hit shows and movies from Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, Starz, Epix, Peacock, and more for free during Watchathon Week. They were able to watch shows like "Stranger Things," "The Boys," "Girls5Eva," "The First Lady," "Outlander," "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty," and more, with no strings attached.
Select Showtime series were available on demand (the direct channels aren’t available for free) for the first three days of Watchathon, and all Showtime series were available on demand during the last four days.
Comcast also brought back Free TV Week Nov. 22-28, 2022, offering Xfinity subscribers free week-long access to shows and movies on over a dozen premium networks and streaming services including HBO Max, Prime Video, Starz, Epix, Showtime, AMC+ and more.
Some customers might be disappointed that Comcast has discontinued Watchathon for 2023, but the company has replaced the previous free event with a new year-long program, Free This Week, which will deliver Comcast Xfinity customers more value by unlocking a new selection of free content each week from top streaming services and premium networks, with no strings attached.
Comcast Rolls Out Free This Week
Free This Week programming is available for Xfinity customers and curated into one simple-to-navigate destination available on X1 and Flex, Comcast said in a Jan. 3 statement. A selection of Free This Week programming will also be available on the Xfinity Stream app and Xumo’s XClass TV. The company said that its data shows that viewership doubles during the time a network or streaming service participates in a free content sampling such as Free This Week.
"At Xfinity, we strive to deliver the best entertainment experience to our customers and make it easy for them to access all the programming they subscribe to, and also discover new programming that might be of interest to them,” Sophia Ahmad, executive vice president and CMO of Comcast Cable said in the statement.
During the first two weeks, Free This Week will feature free access to top wellness apps such as The Great Courses, Gaia, One Day University, Gaiam TV, Sweat Factor and FitFusion by Jillian Michaels. Future participating networks and streaming services include HBO Max, Showtime, Revolt, History Vault, Lifetime Movie Club and more.
To access Free This Week programming and to see what content is going to be unlocked in future weeks, customers can say “Free This Week” into their voice remote.
