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Friday, July 10, 2009
Comcast nixes Epix, says consumers have enough choices: report

"Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable-television provider, and Cablevision Systems Corp. said they aren’t interested in carrying the new Epix premium movie channel," an effort by studios that produce movies to replace the middleman channels that currently distribute films through cable and video providers, reports Bloomberg LP here.

“It’s a bad idea,” Comcast coo Stephen Burke told Bloomberg at the yearly Allen & Co. media conference, Sun Valley, Idaho, adding that consumers already have what Bloomberg called "an adequate number of choices". Cablevision ceo James Dolan said he’s “in perfect agreement” with Burke. 

"Epix, owned by Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., was created after the three studios failed to reach new agreements to show their movies on CBS Corp.’s Showtime pay channel last year. Epix, which pits Sumner Redstone’s CBS and Viacom against each other, has yet to announce pickup by cable systems ahead of its planned October debut...

"Epix plans to provide films and original series on pay TV systems and the Internet. Burke said he hasn’t looked at a preview of Epix... The network will have rights to the studios’ films such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Iron Man, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It will go head-to-head with pay channels including Showtime, Time Warner Inc.'s HBO and Liberty Media Corp.'s  Starz," the cable favorites.

 

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About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column, which is printed in the business pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Joe has worked at the Inquirer, mostly, since 1988. He has also written for Bloomberg and Gannett, authored the book Comcasted, majored in economics at Penn, and fathered six children. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com

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