Powered by Comcast’s cloud-based X1 Entertainment Operating System, it’s a new service that lets college students watch live TV and On Demand content on their IP-enabled devices, including, laptops, tablets and smartphones while on campus. The service, which is included with room and board for students living in on-campus housing, will be available this fall at Bridgewater College, Drexel University, Emerson College, Lasell College and the University of Delaware. In addition, several schools, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of New Hampshire, will be trialing the program with students this fall.
Here’s how it works: Xfinity On Campus requires only one piece of on-premise equipment, making it easy and cost-effective for the university’s IT department to manage and maintain. To access the full service, students must live on campus. They can register for the service and sign in with their university credentials via www.comcast.com/xfinityoncampus or by downloading the Xfinity On Campus app. While off-campus, they can use their university credentials to authenticate and access programming via third-party TV Everywhere sites and apps.
Xfinity On Campus offers some 80 live cable channels including every major broadcast network as well as channels like AMC, Bravo, Comedy Central, ESPN, FX and MTV. Students also can access thousands of current season TV shows and hit movies via Xfinity On Demand. While off campus, students can use their university credentials to authenticate and access online programming that’s part of their subscription via TV Everywhere websites and apps such as WatchESPN and FXNOW.
“Xfinity on Campus lets students watch TV on their own terms,” said Marcien Jenckes, Executive Vice President of Consumer Services for Comcast Cable. “With this younger generation, more and more viewing is happening away from the traditional TV set and we have evolved our products and services to better engage them. Whether it’s Game of Thrones, Scandal or The Daily Show, Xfinity On Campus offers all the content they want – anytime, anywhere, on any device.”
Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. and are watching more TV on computers, tablets and smartphones than ever before. At the same time, 106 million Americans watch TV online today and that number is expected to grow to 145 million by 2017.
Xfinity On Campus customers can also upgrade to a selection of premium channels, including HBO, Showtime, STARZ, as well as the Sports Entertainment Package, which includes popular channels like ESPN Goal Line. Plus, in addition to all the live TV and On Demand Choices, they will soon have the option to upgrade to a cloud-based DVR service, giving them the ability to record and watch their favorite programming on devices, and also “check-out” recordings by downloading them directly to the device to take on-the-go.
RBR-TVBR observation: One can imagine how fewer and fewer students are arriving on campus with TV sets than in the past. The cord-cutting erosion is strongest among these demos and younger, but it is happening across older demos as well. Xfinity On Campus and the technology it uses is a way to keep the subscriptions and ratings numbers across the new TV sets—smartphones and tablets. This may likely be a model to follow in the near future across the board with MSOs. Call it TV WiFi hotspots.
