Web Dating Industry at risk? Here comes COMCAST!

Dating on Demand puts those looking for love on TV
By David Lieberman, USA TODAY
NEW YORK ? Cable operators used to be satisfied selling news, entertainment and communications.
Now, Comcast wants to improve people's love lives.

Beginning Valentine's Day, the No. 1 operator will help subscribers find partners through a
video-on-demand (VOD) service that it calls Dating On Demand.

"Dating was a natural evolution" for VOD, says Comcast's On Demand general manager Page Thompson.
In a test that started last fall in Philadelphia, it quickly became "one of the most popular
(forms of) programming we have."

On Monday, Comcast will introduce Dating On Demand nationally, based on videos from several
cities. It also will have a local service for Chicago. By year's end, it expects to have local
service in a dozen cities including Baltimore, Washington and Portland, Ore.

People age 18 or older who want to broadcast their availability to either the opposite or the same
sex can do so by preparing a three-to-five minute video.

Comcast can shoot and edit it, free of charge. It even plans to send camera crews out to singles
events.

"We've been exploring how to do this ? everything from kiosks in malls to having crews live on the
road going to different venues," says Matt Strauss, who's in charge of content development for
Comcast On Demand.

In addition, people can submit their own video for Comcast to edit. Videos must meet the TV-14
standard: no coarse or intensely suggestive language.

Once edited, Comcast puts the videos on its VOD server for free viewing at any time. VOD is only
available, however, to subscribers paying an additional $10 a month or so for digital cable
service.

Since the videos don't show the person's full name ? and may use aliases ? viewers who want to
reach someone must send a message through an online service, HurryDate.com. Subscriptions go for
about $15 a month, or $55 for six months. People who make a video get the service free for six
months.

Then it's up to the receiver to respond. "It's completely anonymous," Strauss says. "There's no
way for someone to get in touch with you unless you elect to have them get in touch."

Dating On Demand is part of Comcast's strategy to persuade all its 21.5 million customers to sign
up for digital cable. VOD, which also includes movies, cable reruns and other programming on
demand, is now available to about 85% of Comcast's 8.6 million digital subscribers.

The company also says VOD gives cable a competitive edge over satellite rivals, which lack
capacity for VOD.

But the dating service could make money on its own. "We've had interest from other cable
operators" in getting it, Strauss says. "We're expecting there'll be some interest from
advertisers."