Xfinity Watchathon Week

By Jose Jara

NETFLIX JOINS MORE THAN 50 NETWORKS FOR FIFTH ANNUAL XFINITY WATCHATHON WEEK

Binge Watching Event Runs From April 3, Giving Xfinity TV Customers Unlimited Access to Thousands of Shows and Movies

Start from the Beginning and Catch Up on Hundreds of Popular Series Like Billions, Black Sails, House of Cards, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Law and Order: SVU, New Girl, Orange Is the New Black, Quantico, Stranger Things, The Missing, The Walking Dead, and This Is Us

Philadelphia, PA – March 20, 2017 – Comcast today announced that for the first time Netflix will join more than 50 networks participating in Xfinity Watchathon Week. The fifth annual TV binge-watching marathon runs April 3 – 9, giving Xfinity TV customers an all access pass to thousands of the best shows and movies from broadcast, cable, and premium networks. Xfinity X1 customers will also enjoy one-click access to Netflix throughout Xfinity Watchathon Week, with unlimited and seamless access to the Netflix catalog of movies and shows, including award-winning original series House of Cards,Orange Is The New Black, Stranger Things, and The Crown.

With the addition of Netflix alongside broadcast, cable and premium networks, X1 customers will be able to:

• Get caught up on the most buzzed about new shows of the year including ABC’s Designated Survivor,
  NBC’s This Is Us, Netflix’s Stranger Things, FOX’s 24: Legacy, E!’s The Arrangement, HISTORY’s SIX, and Bravo’s Imposters.
• Start from the very beginning and tune in live for shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead, ABC’s Quantico,
• FOX’s New Girl and The Simpsons, Showtime’s Billions, STARZ’s Black Sails and The Missing, and Syfy’s The Magicians.
• Catch up before the upcoming season premiere of shows including Showtime’s The Affair and Ray Donovan, STARZ’s Power and Outlander, AMC’s Better Call Saul, Netflix’s House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, and USA’s Playing House.
• Dive into the past seasons of popular series such as ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, NBC’s The Blacklist, FOX’s The X-Files, FX’s American Horror Story,The CW’s The Flash, and HISTORY’s Alone.
• Enjoy fan favorites from seasons past on Netflix including 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl, LOST, Mad Men, The Office,Sons of Anarchy, and The West Wing.
• Explore Netflix original series like The Crown, House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Bloodline, Sense8, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Gilmore Girls, Master of None, and Narcos.

“We know consumers love to binge watch new shows and old favorites, and this is the biggest binge-watching event of the year with so many networks involved,” said Bill Holmes, global head of business development, Netflix. “Whether customers are eager to start Stranger Things or catch up on Orange is the New Black, Watchathon Week is a great time for Xfinity customers to see for themselves what the buzz is all about.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to offer HISTORY’S critically acclaimed series, Six, and A&E’s groundbreaking series, 60 Days In, to all Xfinity TV customers,” said Mark Garner, Senior Vice President, Distribution Business Development, A+E Networks.  “Xfinity Watchathon Week is a great way for fans of all of our networks, as well as new audiences, to sample, binge or catch up on our top new and returning series of 2017.”

“STARZ is excited to offer its hit original series including Outlander, Power, Black Sails, and The Missing to all Xfinity TV customers.  With the upcoming premier of American Gods on April 30th and the 4th season of Power later this summer, Watchathon Week is a great opportunity for prospective new STARZ subscribers to see our breadth of content, discover new programming and catch-up on prior seasons of our great originals,” said Joe Glennon, Executive Vice President, Distribution at STARZ.

Xfinity Watchathon Week shatters viewing records year after year, with Xfinity TV customers watching more than 70 million hours across Xfinity On Demand platforms in 2016, a 10 percent increase over the prior year and inclusive of a 40 percent increase in viewing across mobile devices.

“With more than 50 participating networks and the addition of Netflix, we are thrilled to bring Xfinity TV customers the biggest and best binge watching event for the fifth year in a row,” said Andy Hunter, Vice President, Programming, Comcast Cable. “The focus of Xfinity Watchathon Week is to provide complete, unlimited access to the best programming and give our customers the ability to sample, binge and explore everything our content partners have to offer.”

Network’s participating in this year’s Watchathon Week include: A&E, ABC, AMC, Animal Planet, BBCA, BET, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS Broadcast, CMT, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Crackle, The CW, Discovery, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, E!, ESPN, Food Network, FOX, FreeForm, FX, FXX, FYI, GSN, HGTV, HISTORY, ID, IFC, Lifetime, Logo, MLB Network, MTV, National Geographic, NBC, OWN, Oxygen, PBS, Science, Showtime, Spike, Sprout, STARZ,  Syfy, TBS, TLC, TNT, Tru TV, TV Land, USA, VH1, Viceland, We TV and WGNA.

X1 customers who are not currently Netflix subscribers will enjoy unlimited access to the Netflix online catalog throughout Watchathon Week and will have the ability to sign up on April 10. For more information on Watchathon Week, visit xfinity.com/watchathon or join the conversation on facebook.com/xfinity and on Twitter by using #Watchathon and following @XFINITY. Content availability will vary across Xfinity On Demand platforms (TV, Xfinity.com/Stream and the Xfinity Stream app), and in virtually all cases can be viewed regardless of which video subscription tier the customer is subscribed to.