Report: Comcast to launch subscriber-only Web video site

Remember the chatter a few months ago about big cable prepping its answer to the likes of Hulu and YouTube? Well, it looks like Comcast is moving ahead with a streaming, subscriber-only video site featuring shows from both basic and premium cable networks.

PC World reports that the free site will only be accessible to Comcast subscribers (you'll need a username and password to log in); once signed on, subscribers will be able to "access any standard or premium cable content that their cable subscription entitles them to," according to the report.

Now as PC World points out, it's still not clear exactly how much content we're talking about here—indeed, Comcast (which already has Fancast, a Hulu- and CBS-powered streaming video site) hasn't even pegged a launch date yet.

That said (and again, as noted by PC World), Comcast is tight with all the big content providers (think ABC, NBC, Viacom, HBO, and so on), so it has the potential to tap into a wide range of programming—including, I would hope, shows that you can't currently watch on sites like Hulu, Veoh, or TV.com.

The news comes in the wake of recent reports that the big cable carriers—including Comcast and Time Warner Cable—were in talks with television production companies about launching their own Web video sites.

And yes, the move makes sense. Cable operators are spooked by the rising popularity of streaming video services like Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, and Amazon Video on Demand, that offer hundreds of TV shows and movies for rent, purchase, or free over the Web.

By offering products like, say, a subscriber-only streaming video site with exclusive shows (and not just extras and deleted scenes, as I initially thought might be the case, but network shows that aren't yet available online), carriers like Comcast could give viewers a reason not to cut the cord.

(A couple other bundling possibilities that big cable might turn to: Upcoming streaming set-top boxes like ZillionTV, which will offer ad-supported movies and TV shows, and OnLive, the recently-unveiled "on demand" gaming service.)

Anyway, that's the strategy as I see it; that said, the success or failure of services like Comcast's Fancast depends wholly on the content. Are we just talking about a handful of shows you can't catch on Hulu, like TNT's "The Closer"? Or will subscribers get literally everything they can get on their basic and premium cable tiers, on demand? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Related:
Comcast Cable TV is Coming to Laptops This Year [PC World]