Midday Report: Comcast Xfinity Customers to Get 100 TV Series for Free

If you feel left out because you don't watch the hot TV show that everyone's talking about, now's your chance to catch-up.

Have you ever marathoned?

Not the 26-mile race, the new practice of extended TV watching to catch-up on a whole season of a show you missed.

Comcast (CMCSA), the nation's largest cable provider, will offer 100 TV series -- more than 3500 episodes -- for free to its Xfinity customers. It's a one-week promotion at the end of this month, from March 25th through the 31st, that's designed to get you hooked.

If you do get addicted to some of these shows, you might sign up for some of its more expensive tiers of programming.

It's also intended to battle the increasingly popular video streaming services from Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Hulu and others. And we're not talking about 30 year old episodes of "M*A*S*H." Comcast has deals with all of the broadcast networks, as well as 30 cable channels, including premium ones such as HBO and Showtime. Some of the hot shows that will be available include "Downton Abbey," "Game of Thrones," "Homeland," "Girls," "Mad Men" and "The Walking Dead." The promotion also includes some series that are no longer making new episodes, such as "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City" and "The Wire."

And you can watch these shows from their pilot episode all the way up to the most recent one.
You can park yourself on the couch for a week, or watch on the go. Comcast customers can also access all of the programs on mobile devices and tablets.

But if you're a basketball fan, this "free" week could present a big dilemma: it's right in the middle of March Madness, the college basketball championship tournament that also encourages binge TV watching. You may need to clear your schedule of everything else so that you can take part in all of the water-cooler talk about TV shows and sports.

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