This fall, our customers have lots of options when it comes to watching the hot new fall TV series - they can watch live on TV, on Xfinity On Demand, at XfinityTV.com and through the Xfinity TV app. So how do all these fall TV shows make it from their original (we call it "linear") airing on live TV to the various other ways to watch? Let me shed a little light on my area of expertise, and favorite time-shifting service — Xfinity On Demand.
Whether it's a returning favorite like "NCIS" or a hot new TV series like "Up All Night" — each episode listed on our Xfinity On Demand menu has a unique journey before it gets to you.
We work closely with all the major broadcast networks, cable and premium providers to make sure we are lining up the hottest and most current TV series that customers want to see. Once those shows are identified and we know we'll have them "on demand," we work with a handful of content-delivery partners — companies that are the liaison between the programmer (let's say ABC) and Comcast — to get a copy of "Desperate Housewives" for Xfinity On Demand.
Once we receive the episode, it's run through a gamut of quality-control (QC) checkpoints set by CableLabs — the industry standard — so viewers can watch a crystal-clear picture and see the show anytime they want.
The timeline varies as to when each show (we call it an "asset") is available on Xfinity On Demand. Many are available the day after they air on live TV. That means the show you watched Sunday night at 10 is already in-house and through its quality control checks so that it is available with one click of the remote on Monday morning. We even provide viewers some episodes before they air live on TV. For example, this September, FOX's "New Girl" was available on Xfinity On Demand two weeks before its linear airing.
In other cases, a show is captured through a live linear feed from the network. Our delivery partners then help us encode it for Xfinity On Demand in real time, so our customers can watch their favorites the same day they air live. In either scenario, the episode is sent to us via a super-fast terrestrial delivery system, where it's stored in a central library (we call it a "library server") and then delivered to our customers via streaming servers.
So whether you live in Miami, Philadelphia, Seattle, Atlanta or any Comcast market in between, you're all watching what is essentially a duplicate copy of the same "asset" on Xfinity On Demand. This centralized system ensures that all of our customers get the best of this exciting fall TV season in their homes as quickly as possible. With nearly 60 shows from the top four broadcast networks on Xfinity On Demand, you can only imagine how many assets are streaming to living rooms across the country at this very moment. We hope you will take advantage of all Xfinity On Demand has to offer this fall, and don't forget, you can also catch great shows on XfinityTV.com and through the Xfinity TV app.