The nation’s largest cable company has struck an agreement with HurryDate.com, a company founded in 2001 by web entrepreneurs Ken Deckinger and Adele Testani. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Comcast will test "Dating on Demand" in its home turf of Philadelphia in the next few weeks. About 600,000 of Comcast's 1.5 million customers in the Philadelphia market have digital cable, the company said, noting it has 21.5 million subscribers nationwide.
With “Dating on Demand,” Comcast is attempting to fill content for its video-on-demand service, which includes soft and hardcore porn.
HurryDate will host socials where singles can make three- to five-minute videos that will be offered to Comcast’s video-on-demand customers. A viewer can learn more about the video subject on HurryDate's website.
To exchange emails, the viewer must join HurryDate, which costs $14.95 a month but will be free to video participants for six months.
"Dating on demand adds a personal touch to meeting potential dates by presenting real singles — how they move, how they speak, their true appearance,” Testani told XBiz. “It all happens in the comfort of your home with the touch of a remote control and the click of a mouse."
Earlier this week, Comcast and eight other cable operators were hit with patent infringement claims over video-on-demand, which will be used in the HurryDate project.
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Acacia Media Technologies Corp. claims it owns five U.S. patents for the transmission and receipt of digital audio and video over the Internet, cable and satellite.
The company also is suing numerous adult webmasters, as well, for using streaming media.