The Change Mariner

Comcast to push music

SFGate:
Cable television giant Comcast is jumping into the Internet music market with a deal to promote RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody music subscription service with TV commercials and free songs.

The two-month marketing deal between Rhapsody music service of San Francisco and Comcast, which has 21.4 million cable TV subscribers and 4.86 million high-speed Internet service customers, will be announced today.

The joint promotion marks the latest in a series of high-profile marketing campaigns to catapult into the spotlight licensed music services like Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store and Roxio Inc.'s Napster 2.0.

"This kind of attention is all good,'' said analyst Mike McGuire, research director at Gartner G2. "The idea they are now going to have TV advertising to promote this is enormous, not just for Rhapsody. Raising the general public awareness that there is a new form of accruing music legally is very valuable.''

Those services have the backing of the slump-ridden recording industry, which has been slapping customers with copyright infringement suits for using free but unlicensed online song-swapping programs like Kazaa.