Cable giant Comcast announced an agreement to purchase Fandango, the popular movie ticket and show time information site. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fandango is one of the most popular film sites, with an estimated four to five million unique visitors per month. Comcast has its own consumer portal, called Comcast.net, which has an impressive 15 million unique visitors per month.
Comcast said it plans to launch Fancast.com, what it called “a new national online destination that will enable consumers to search, discover, manage and enjoy their entertainment experience across many devices and channels, including television, computers, DVDs and wireless services” later this year.
Fandango, which offers movie time starts and ticket sales, will be a part of that, along with integration into Comcast’s own services. For example, a user could set up a list of favorite actors, and then Fancast would alert the user when one of the actors had a movie in theaters, on video on demand, or on regular TV.
Fandango and Fancast will be a part of Comcast Interactive Media (CIM), the Internet division of Comcast. Other sites include Ziddio.com, GameInvasion.net and thePlatform. The Fandango purchase allows Comcast to go beyond its footprint of cable TV subscribers and attract non-cable customers, according to a company spokesperson.
Todd Chanko, analyst with JupiterKagan, also felt this would help Comcast expand beyond its cable customer base. “They are aware of more and more interest being paid to online video and want to insure they have a relationship with consumers wherever they go,” he told internetnews.com.
“Right now they are locked into 24 million households, and that’s great, Chanko added. “But at the same time, they want to make sure when those 24 million aren’t watching Comcast, they still have some kind of relationship with Comcast.
