Free Showtime On Demand

This weekend only Comcast is offering free On Demand Showtime movies and original shows.  The Freeview as thet are calling it actually started on Thursday March 25th and goes through Sunday March 28th.  This does not include the regular Showtime channels just the On Demand content.  Comcast used to offer free previews of Premium Channels quite often but it doesn't seem to happen much any more so it is nice to take advantage when it is offered.

Fancast Infinity.tv Online Issues

This morning my 2 year old daughter and I were sitting at the computer watching a trailer for the new Disney movie when I noticed the Comcast's Infinity.tv now offers epidodes of Dora the Explorer that can be viewed online.  It seems that for some of the content (premium channels and Nickelodeon) that you can view online you also need to have that channel included in your cable plan.  When I clicked on the episode to view it I was prompted to launch Comcast Access to authorize my computer to use Infinity.tv.  This process involves downloading and installing a program and then logging in using your comcast.net account.  According to the website you can authorize up to three computers to use this service.

Unfortunately I only got as far as logging into my Comcast account and then got error code: 3013.  There was no explanation on this error code just a link for Comcast support.  I usually don't have much luck with Comcast's online chat help system but I didn't feel like calling the regular support line so I figured I would give it a shot.  The transcript of my chat is below:

Corazon> Hello Steve_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Corazon. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Corazon>  Hi Steve. Welcome to Comcast World! You can call me Cora. How are you doing today?
Corazon> I apologize for the inconvenience that it has caused you. Nevertheless, we will do our best to fix the issue.

Steve_> very well thanks

Corazon> I am glad to know that you are doing very well, Steve. I understand that you are having issues accessing infinity TV. Is that correct?

Steve_> yes

Corazon> I can certainly relate to your needs, Steve and to have you in this chat is as good as fulfilling my own. I am committed in wanting to provide you with the best customer service experience. You can surely take your worries out.
Corazon>  In order to assist you better, I need to pull up your account first. Could I please have your comcast 16 digit account number?

Steve_> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Corazon> Thank you so much. Please give me a moment to check the account.
Corazon> Thank you for patiently waiting, Steve.
Corazon> Have you accessed xfinity TV before?

Steve_> No

Corazon> All right.
Corazon> Let me check first if Xfinity is already available in the area
Corazon> The reason why you are receiving an error message is
Corazon> I’m sorry, but XFINITY is not yet available in your neighborhood. We apologize for creating any confusion. The ad was shown because XFINITY is available in some areas that are close by. You can visit XFINITY.com and sign up to receive an email alert once XFINITY is available in your neighborhood.

Steve_> ok, thanks anyway

Corazon> Is there anything else that I can help you with today, Steve? I'll be more than happy to answer any other questions you might have.

Steve_> Just wondering why I can watch some infinity tv programs but not others

Corazon> The process is not yet complete.

Steve_> Ok, Thanks

Corazon> You are very much welcome, steve It has been a pleasure assisting you today.Thank you for bringing Comcast to your home! We appreciate your business and value you as a customer. I would also appreciate feedback from you about how I can continue to serve you better by taking the quick survey after clicking on the 'End Session' button. Thank you for choosing Comcast and have a nice one!
Corazon> You may now click the END SESSION button on the right-hand corner and then, the YES button located on the bottom of this chat window.

A couple interesting things about this chat transcript....Based on some of Cora's responses I am assuming that their chat support is located overseas. Not that I really have a problem with that but I just found some of her responses really funny. Such as...

Corazon> I can certainly relate to your needs, Steve and to have you in this chat is as good as fulfilling my own. I am committed in wanting to provide you with the best customer service experience. You can surely take your worries out.

So accorrding to Cora, Infinity.tv is not available in my area but I should go to http://www.xfinity.tv/ and sign up for email alerts to find out when it will be available in my area.  So I signed up for the email alerts but also noticed that there was a dialogue box where you can enter your zip code to see if xfinity.tv is available in your area.  After entering my zip I got the following response...

It may be available in my area...what does that mean???  Why is Comcast rolling this product out on their website if it is not yet available in all areas?  Kind of frustrating.  They have been advertising Xfinity like crazy on TV I am surprised that it is not completely ready to go.  Hopefully they get this resolved soon and it becomes available in my area.....I promised my daughter she could watch Dora.

3/14 Update

I tried to view the subscription content again tonight and I am no longer getting the 3013 error code.  I was able to log in and authorize my computer and then I was able to watch the videos.  Looking at the page statistics for this blog I noticed that I got a lot of hits from people googling the 3013 error so I am apparently not the only one who was having this issue.  Not sure if it was fixed for everyone but if not hopefully it will be soon.