Comcast, a leading broadband Internet provider, has launched the Comcast Kids Channel, a safe interactive environment designed for todays broadband family. The channel launches with premier content from Disney Online.
Comcast is featuring Disney Connection, a collection of Disney broadband entertainment for kids. It includes a regularly updated slate of games, activities and video, as well as select access to two premium offerings: Disneys Blast, an ad-free online entertainment service for kids 3-10, and Disneys Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer Internet game designed specifically for kids and families. In addition, the new Digital Showcase provides videos from Disney each week, including cartoon shorts, music videos and movie trailers. Additional Disney video content is available in The Fan, Comcasts innovative multimedia broadband player, providing more fun and educational information geared for kids.
Disney Connection on Comcast.net offers Comcast High-Speed Internet families free access to: up to four hours of Disneys Toontown Online each month; an extensive trial version of Disneys Blast; a regularly updated menu of games and activities; and Disney video content from Digital Showcase. Each week, seven new games, activities and videos are rotated into the Disney Connection. Users can earn coins for playing games, which can then be exchanged for fun digital classic prizes that include: classic character cars; character play sets; trading pins; trading cards; autographed photos; digital clocks, character masks and other assorted prizes, such as pocket blasters and princess make-up kits.
Disney Connection basic and premium content will evolve over time including the addition of a premium interactive educational service for preschoolers. Comcast will continuously enhance the content and built-for-broadband applications in the Comcasts Kids Channel.
Comcast Kids Channel is another example of Comcast leveraging premier content to enhance the total broadband Internet experience for our customers, said Greg Butz, svp, marketing and business development for Comcasts online business. It also brings together the nations number one broadband provider with Disney, a market leader in advanced broadband content that parents trust to educate and entertain their children.
Families have signed up for broadband in mass, and now they are looking for appropriate online entertainment that kids will love and that takes advantage of their fast connections, commented Ken Goldstein, evp/md of Disney Online. We share Comcasts dedication to creating an advanced broadband experience that families can enjoy and trust and are delighted to launch in the U.S. with the nations top broadband provider.
"Branded content, like Disney Connection, illustrates how developing content for broadband can be utilized to provide our affiliates and consumers with powerful, new programming experiences," added Sean Bratches, president, Disney and ESPN networks affiliate sales and marketing.
Disneys Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer 3D online game created for kids and families, combines elements of traditional video games, online community and strategic role playing games. In Toontown, players create their own character and join together with thousands of other players to help save Toontown from the humorless Cogs, a band of bungling business robots attempting to turn the Toons colorful world into a bleak metropolis.
Disneys Blast features Disneys favorite characters and is updated with exciting new content each week. Kid's can explore their creativity through a huge collection of activities that focuses on developing a child's artistic qualities, including paint centers, music and movie makers and print centers. Disneys Blast was launched in 1997 and has remained the premier online premium service for kids.
Comcasts premier broadband online service, www.comcast.net features news, weather and stocks, plus exclusive broadband content with streaming video and high-quality sound. Valuable on-demand content that can be easily searched and viewed on the site through The Fan, which contains news clips, interview segments, short animations and movie trailers.
Forty percent of Comcast High-Speed Internet households include children. Comcast Corp. (www.comcast.com) is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks, and in the provision of programming content. The company is the largest provider of cable and broadband services in the U.S., serving more than 21 million cable television customers and more than six million high-speed Internet customers. Its content businesses include majority ownership of Comcast Spectacor, Comcast SportsNet, E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, G4techTV, The Golf Channel, International Channel and Outdoor Life Network. Comcast Class.
