Comcast Loosens Rental Periods for VOD Content

This summer, VOD rentals on Comcast On-Demand will now be good for two days rather than 24 hours. Dig it:

Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment will begin offering films on demand through Comcast foran extended two-day viewing period at no extra charge this summer, the cable company announced Tuesday. Until now, consumers who purchased films on VOD through cable have had to watch them within 24 hours before they time out.

What studios will offer for an extended period will vary greatly. Warner is calling the move a test, while Disney plans to permanently extend the viewing period for its releases to 48 hours.

Warner will offer the extended 48-hour viewing period for all of its high definition June VOD releases on Comcast, including Tuesday release He’s Just Not That Into You and upcoming releases Gran Torino, The Cell 2, Friday the 13^th and Inkheart. Those releases all debut on VOD simultaneous with their DVD release.

Warner will also offer those releases with the extended viewing period through Verizon, a spokesman said. However, standard definition VOD rentals of Warner films and download rentals through iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand and other cable and Internet services will continue to be viewable for 24 hours.

Full story over at VidBiz.