Comcast said more network and distribution partners will be joining its SEEiT platform in 2014, expanding the range of content that can be delivered via Twitter and the number of viewers that can potentially click to view.
The new partners – ABC Entertainment Group, A+E Networks Group, AMC Networks Inc., Cablevision’s Optimum TV, Charter Communications, Crown Media Family Networks, Discovery Communications, Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable – are expected to join SEEiT as early as the first quarter of 2014, Comcast said.
SEEit, which launched in a limited mode in November, lets someone who encounters a tweet promoting a show click on a link and have the choice of tuning to the channel, setting a DVR recording, starting up a video-on-demand title, watching a show on a mobile device or set a reminder.
“When we developed SEEiT, we always intended to share it with other video distribution partners, television networks, apps and websites,” Sam Schwartz, chief business development officer at Comcast Cable, said in a release. “Twitter was an ideal launch partner for us given the number of TV-related conversations happening there, and we’re encouraged by the early results during our ‘preview’ period. These new partners will help enhance the experience by allowing more consumers to conveniently tune, record, or watch their favorite shows and movies from the places they’re discovering them.”
Said Comcast, ABC, Fox, FX Networks, A&E, Discovery, Fox Sports 1, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic Channel and WE tv are among the networks that are expected to join NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC, MSNBC, USA, SyFy, Bravo, Oxygen, E!, Esquire Network and The Golf Channel in promoting content via SEEiT. Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and Cablevision’s Optimum TV subscribers will join Xfinity TV customers in using SEEiT, which was developed and operated by Comcast and launched on Twitter.
SEEiT's “preview” launched on Nov. 22 with Syfy shows Haven (starring Emily Rose, pictured) and Naked Vegas and has since expanded to additional NBCUniversal programs The Voice (NBC), The Blacklist (NBC), Chicago Fire (NBC), The Michael J Fox Show (NBC), Best Ink (Oxygen), Being Human (SyFy), Mad Money (CNBC), All In with Chris Hayes (MSNBC), Psych the Musical (USA Network) and Vanderpump Rules (Bravo).
In the first quarter of 2014, the NBCUniversal list of SEEiT-enabled programming will grow to include NHL games (NBC Sports and NBCSN), Psych (USA Network), Knife Fight (Esquire Network), Helix (Syfy) and Opposite Worlds (Syfy), Comcast said.
