Comcast launched the Xfinity On Campus service, which allows college students to access live TV programs and on demand content while on campus.
College students will be able to access the content through their mobile devices, which include tablets, laptops and smartphones.
The service will be included with the room and board charges for students that are staying in housing on-campus. The first campuses where the service will be made available are Lasell College, Bridgewater College, Emerson College, Drexel University, and the University of Delaware.
More schools will undergo trial for the service this fall, including the University of New Hampshire and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Xfinity On Campus service allows students to access 80 channels on live cable, along with thousands of TV programs and movie through Xfinity On Demand.
Students can also use the service while outside of the campus, using their credentials for the authentication to access online programs that are a part of the subscription.
"Xfinity on Campus lets students watch TV on their own terms," said Comcast Cable Executive Vice President of Consumer Services Marcien Jenckes. "With this younger generation, more and more viewing is happening away from the traditional TV set and we have evolved our products and services to better engage them. Whether it's Game of Thrones, Scandal or The Daily Show, Xfinity On Campus offers all the content they want - anytime, anywhere, on any device."
The basic service includes access to channels such as Bravo, AMC, FX, Comedy Central, MTV and ESPN. Users may also choose to upgrade their service to gain access to several premium channels, which include HBO, Showtime and STARZ, along with the Sports Entertainment Package that includes ESPN Goal Line.
In the future, users will also be able to upgrade their service to include a cloud-based DVR, which will allow the students to record their favorite programs and watch them at a later time, or to download the recordings into their mobile devices so that they can watch the programs while on the go.
Xfinity On Campus targets the younger generation where college students belong, which have the lower tendency of subscribing to cable TV and a higher tendency to watch videos online.
According to Lasell College spokeswoman Michelle Gaseau, the school can save up to $5000 per year on bandwidth costs, estimating a decrease of up to 20 percent in bandwidth needs as students will choose to watch their TV on the Comcast service instead of eating up the school's bandwidth.
Comcast has tested out the idea of the service in the past. In 2011, Comcast started a similar TV service at MIT, delivering the programs over Internet protocols to multiple devices.
