Free Preview Begins: April 3, 2017 (Monday)
Free Preview Ends: April 9, 2017 (Sunday)
Comcast Xfinity will be having their annual Watchathon Week April 3-9 this year. This means a free week of On Demand cable and premium content for customers and free access to Netflix is included for the first time this year.
Here’s a list of networks that are participating this year – A&E, ABC, AMC, Animal Planet, BBCA, BET, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS Broadcast, CMT, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Crackle, The CW, Discovery, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, E!, ESPN, Food Network, FOX, FreeForm, FX, FXX, FYI, GSN, HGTV, HISTORY, ID, IFC, Lifetime, Logo, MLB Network, MTV, National Geographic, NBC, OWN, Oxygen, PBS, Science, Showtime, Spike, Sprout, STARZ, STARZ ENCORE, Syfy, TBS, TLC, TNT, Tru TV, TV Land, USA, VH1, Viceland, We TV and WGNA.
Thanks so much to Chris, Redtailhawk, and Peter who sent this in!
Channel Lineup:
Check with your local provider.
Are they going to have HBO, Cinemax and Showtime for FREE during Watchathon Week?
Yes, but we won’t be able to watch premium channels live. Just the ‘On Demand’ movies from those networks. And I don’t think we can record.
Netflix Originals will also be included in the Watchathon.
I have xfinity Internet plus do we get to participate in watchathon?
The dates here are WRONG. This started on the 31st!
Correction: Apparently, the top hit in Google is an old ad from a few years ago that they forgot to take down. This year’s Watchathon just started a few minutes ago.
As for what is available… Hard to say since I’m not seeing all the channels or even all the shows in my browser. Could be we’re waiting for them to do something to make the content available.
Thanks for the heads up as usual. :-)
On Comcast it is only in the OnDemand section (not live). Two links on first page: reg and premium. Looks like SHO is only series. STARZ has series plus movies.
Monday April 3rd 2:50pm
So far i checked
AMC, BBCA,Disney XD, Showtime, Sprout, STARZ, ENCORE. All say subscription required. Is this an April fools joke? Something you have to opt into?
Thanks for the info. One question, how do you access the netflix content?
Thanks,
Kevin
I have a Tivo with a cablecard. As others have said you cannot watch the free preview channels live. In the past I was able to watch free preview content on Roku apps for Showtime, Starz, etc. However this time when I attempted to authenticate the Showtime app through Comcast I was prompted to pay $10.99/mo. The only way I could find to watch the free preview is on the Roku Xfinity app. They even have the “Watchathon” highlighted.
List of participating channels and Netflix info. http://corporate.comcast.com/news-information/news-feed/netflix-joins-more-than-50-networks-for-fifth-annual-xfinity-watchathon-week
Additional content has appeared for OnDemand – Showtime Movies and Series
Really bummed HBO & Cinemax weren’t on the list for this year’s Watchathon Week. Hope it should happen next year.