Comcast to release more video-on-demand on DVD day

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comcast Corp on Tuesday said it expects its video-on-demand service to release about 100 movies this year on the same day they come out on DVD, up from 35 in 2008, in a trend that has boosted sales.

Over the past three years, Comcast's On Demand has moved aggressively to release more films simultaneously with the DVD -- a method called the day-and-date model -- growing from 9 in 2007, to 35 in 2008 and 68 by the third quarter of this year.

Comcast said studios have also moved in many cases to shorten the time between DVD releases and video-on-demand availability from an average of 45 days to 30 or even as few as 15 days.

Comcast said the shortened window and the increased use of the day-and-date model has helped sharply increase the number of customer orders for movies on demand, which average about $4.99 a movie, but it would not disclose by how many orders.

The cable giant, which is in negotiations to buy a stake of NBC Universal from General Electric Co, said in November it expects to have its biggest day-and-date month ever, with 10 major films being released the same day as DVD.

Comcast said it saw its biggest On Demand movie opening with "Twilight" the same day the DVD debuted.

Several analysts believe if Comcast's bid to take over NBC Universal is successful, it may allow the top U.S. cable company to pioneer an industry game-changer: offering blockbuster films on movie-on-demand channels ahead of their DVD release.

(Reporting by Susan Zeidler; Editing by Gary Hill)