Comcast Transforms Its Online Shopping Channel

Comcast, the nation's leading broadband Internet provider, announced today that it has enhanced its popular

online Shopping Channel, so that its more than 6.5 million customers can experience a difference in online holiday shopping, planning, and more.

According to a recent comScore Networks forecast, online shopping is expected to rise 25 percent to more than $65 billion, by the end of 2004 with more than $15 billion being spent online during November and December. As a key component to its plans to expand its Online Shopping Channel, Comcast has partnered with PriceGrabber.com, a leader in online comparison shopping services, providing the fastest, most convenient way to locate and compare the best products, merchants and prices online. At the same time, it has launched "Happy Broadband Holidays," a comprehensive micro-site integrated within the Shopping Channel.

"Happy Broadband Holidays" combines PriceGrabber's recognized comparison shopping technology with the best that broadband can offer - including innovative, built-for-broadband applications, and best-in-class holiday content - to create one convenient, and easily accessible place for customers to find everything they need to get through the holidays in style ... broadband-style, that is.

What is broadband style? For the holidays, it means using the latest broadband tools and technologies - to eliminate many of the traditional stresses and replace them with more convenience, more time with friends and family ... and more fun. Comcast's "Happy Broadband Holidays" aggregates all of the top broadband tools and content, and makes them easy to find by organizing according to users' most common holiday needs and activities - i.e., planning, shopping, celebrating & entertaining, staying connected, and relaxing & recuperating. The site also provides a host of videos from such content providers as QVC, HGTV, Fine Living, and G4/techTV with a special Holiday Fan, a spin-off of Comcast's popular The Fan(TM) broadband multimedia player, credited with increasing video usage on Comcast.net by close to 200 percent in one year.

More about "Happy Broadband Holidays"

Holidays" site's features include:

Plan & Organize

Plan & Organize features Comcast's popular Tip of the Day - a full section devoted to helping customers leverage the power of broadband to make the holidays better. These tips are supplemented by Planning Calendars, developed by shopping and party-planning experts to help relieve many of the stresses associated around the holidays. Want to know when the best time for decorating your tree is? What about determining the right time to send Hanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa packages to long-distance family and friends?Are you interested in volunteering at a local food bank? The Plan & Organize calendars hold the answers and include many of the popular Tips of the Day, including preparing guest rooms for incoming holiday visitors, and the best time to bake cookies for Santa.

Shop

"Happy Broadband Holidays," integrated into Comcast's popular and newly

enhanced Shopping Channel, includes many special features, such as:

Popular Gifts for Everyone - Gift list recommendations conveniently

organized according to recipient categories and price. Recipient

categories include Kids, Teens, Women, Men, those hard-to-find

Pollyanna Gifts, and Stocking Stuffers - with pricing categories

ranging from under $25 dollars to as much as $250.
Exclusive Discounts for Comcast High-Speed Internet customers - A well-

rounded variety of discounts from select partners including $20 off all

orders over $100 from Wine.com; 15 percent off all jewelry from

Ice.com; and 15 percent off of everything at 1800Flowers.com.

Connect

Connect includes a variety of useful tips and suggestions for ways to make

it easier to stay in touch with broadband during the holidays. For example:

Broadband families can make the holiday greeting card process more

simple and personal (yet less expensive) via Video Mail greetings.
Encouraging everyone to get those thank-you's done before New Year's

also becomes easier with Video Mail messages that can do more than

simply tell Aunt Rachael how much you love that sweater. Why not show

her?
Want to add some holiday magic for kids at Christmas? Helping them

send Video Mail wish lists to Santa (at DearSanta@comcast.net) will do

the trick. Watch their eyes light up when they receive a Video Mail

reply from one of Santa's most trusted elves.
Users can also create interactive photo slideshows on Video CDs (VCDs)

to share all of the past year's digital photo highlights with family

and friends.

Celebrate & Entertain

Celebrate & Entertain includes a collection of articles and videos with

helpful tips, secrets for successful parties and recommendations for hosting

holiday get-togethers. Examples include:

Wine suggestions for enthusiasts as well as novices.
Recipes ranging from favorite comfort foods to the most decadent sweets

to Emeril's top picks.
Decorating tips, and much more.

Relax & Recuperate

Relax & Recuperate includes tips for unwinding after the holidays and getting your life back to normal. Want to plan a spa day, find new uses for all of those leftovers, or plan a family game night? It's all in there.

Comcast Holiday Chat

In an effort to connect with its customers, Comcast also will be hosting a series of online holiday chat sessions throughout November and December.

Currently scheduled to appear on Tuesday, November 23rd are:

Chelsea Badeau, Comcast.net editor and author of Chelsea's Corner, with

recommendations on great relationship gifts.
Dawn Czarnecki, Comcast.net contributing editor and author of Fresh,

the weekly guide to what's cool on broadband, with her top suggestions

of quirky gift ideas.
Dina Dinacci, Comcast.net shopping editor, to discuss great gift ideas

for those "impossible-to-shop-for" people on everyone's list.

Additional chat sessions covering cooking and great holiday recipes, decorating ideas and shopping tips are scheduled throughout the holiday season. To participate in any of the live online chat sessions or to view a schedule of upcoming chats, please visit: http://www.comcast.net/chatlive .

"This year, Comcast has turned the nation's number one broadband Internet portal* into a single destination our customers can visit for all of their holiday needs - from shopping, to planning their holiday parties, to connecting better with family and friends, and finally, to relaxing and taking care of themselves," said Greg Butz, senior vice president of marketing and business development for Comcast Online. "With our 100% Pure Broadband(TM) network, host of built-for-broadband applications, and premier content partners, Comcast was able to create this unique online holiday destination for our customers. We are thrilled to unveil our new Shopping Partner and 'Happy Broadband Holidays' as another way we continue to bring value to our customers' lives."

About PriceGrabber.com

PriceGrabber.com is a leader in comparison shopping and is widely recognized as one of the best and most useful sites on the Internet by industry leading publications including PC World and PC Magazine. The company's web site is the starting point for savvy shoppers who value their time, money and privacy. PriceGrabber's innovative services include BottomLinePrice calculation, Storefronts marketplace, merchant ratings and reviews, detailed product information and reviews, side-by-side product comparisons and email notification of the best prices and availability on the Internet - making PriceGrabber a valuable ally for any shopper. For merchants, manufacturers and partners, PriceGrabber provides valuable visibility to an active population of shoppers. PriceGrabber's vast database of consumer comparison shopping habits is available for companies seeking in-depth product and market analysis. The company offers comparison shopping in English (at http://www.pricegrabber.com ), Spanish (at http://www.preciomania.com ) and Portuguese (at http://www.precomania.com ) as well as international sites in Canada and the United Kingdom. PriceGrabber is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

About Comcast.net

Comcast's premier broadband online service, http://www.comcast.net features news, weather, and stocks, plus exclusive broadband content with streaming video and high-quality sound. This agreement adds even more valuable on-demand content that can be easily searched and viewed on the site through The Fan(TM) which contains news clips, interview segments, short animations and movie trailers.

Comcast.net features include:

The Fan(TM), Comcast's innovative broadband video player.
The Assistant, a personalized toolbar with always-on utilities such as

weather, sports scores, stock watch lists, horoscopes and much, much

more.
Content from leading providers such as ABC News, Disney, E!, G4, The

Weather Channel, IFC, Planeta Networks, Atom Films, and others
Comcast Video Mail, a unique, comprehensive service that offers Comcast

customers the ability to send video e-mail messages from their Comcast

email accounts to any valid email address.
Comcast Photo Center, the one place to go for online photo sharing and

film developing with free unlimited photo storage.
Comcast Rhapsody, the country's leading Internet jukebox service that

provides subscribers with unlimited access to a vast library of music

from all five major labels plus more than 200 independent music labels.
"AskComcast," an interactive help tool developed using technology from

Conversagent. This interactive agent "chats" with Comcast High-Speed

Internet customers in a conversational personalized way, helping them

find information they desire about their service and its features.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (http://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 United States, serving more than 21 million cable television customers and more than 6 million high-speed Internet customers. The Company's 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 A common stock and Class A Special common stock trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols CMCSA and CMCSK, respectively. *Nielsen/NetRatings, September 2004 - broadband portal defined designed for broadband users and drawing more than 90% of visits from broadband connections.