Intertainer Audience Grows With DSL, Cable RolloutsIntertainer Audience Grows With DSL, Cable Rollouts

Video-on-demand provider Intertainer Inc. says it will see its potential audience grow more than sixfold this summer thanks to deals with Qwest Communications International Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Terrence Coles, Intertainer's senior VP of content, says service was introduced this week in a soft rollout to about 50,000 of Qwest's digital subscriber line customers in Denver and Minneapolis, as well as a full launch to 35,000 of Comcast's digital cable subscribers in Monmouth, N.J., and Willow Grove, Pa. Further rollouts in coming weeks to Qwest customers in Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; and Seattle will add another 100,000 potential customers.

The arrangements with Qwest and Comcast come less than three months after Intertainer launched its service to 35,000 Cincinnati-area users of Broadwing Inc.'s Zoomtown DSL service, believed to be the largest single-market rollout of video-on-demand over DSL to date. "We are absolutely on the threshold of really getting some significant numbers of eyeballs," Coles says. "But we still have to turn them into subscribers." A Qwest spokeswoman acknowledged the company's relationship with Intertainer but couldn't confirm the soft launches in Denver and Minneapolis.

Both of the more recent rollouts differ in key ways from the Cincinnati service. Whereas Zoomtown customers automatically see the Intertainer icon on their pre-set home page when they log on, Qwest customers must first link to Qwest's Online Avenue portal to access the service. In both cases, the service is delivered almost exclusively to PCs, and Intertainer bills the customers directly, depending on them to register as users. Conversely, Comcast's digital cable subscribers can access Intertainer through its own channel. They aren't asked to register, and movie charges, which range from $1.99 to $3.99, show up on their cable bills.

TeleChoice analyst Adam Guglielmo says the Qwest rollout is a positive development for Intertainer, but he questions whether subscribers will take the time to search for the service. Further complicating matters, Guglielmo says, is the fact that Qwest this summer will begin delivering its DSL service through Microsoft's MSN Internet access service. Qwest is expected to fold Online Avenue into an MSN-branded site, and it's unclear how this will affect Intertainer. Either way, Guglielmo says, Qwest's use of Intertainer puts it ahead of other telcos. "It obviously demonstrates a commitment on Qwest's part to offer the kind of applications and services that will drive the development of broadband."