OAKS, Pa. -- Comcast Cable's Eastern Division today announced the expansion of its popular "Get Local" category of ON DEMAND content with the formation of a Local Video On Demand (LVOD) team dedicated to developing exclusive, locally focused and original content for its 5.4 million customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. The Division also announced plans to expand its LVOD offerings by more than 200% over the next two years, offering approximately 20,000 unique programs in any given Region.

Comcast has always believed in the power of localness and in the importance of being connected to the communities in which we live and work," said Michael Doyle, president, Comcast Cable Eastern Division and founder, CN8, The Comcast Network. "The strategic marriage of our CN8, Newsmakers and Cable assets puts us in a unique position to bring this commitment to life and to leverage the power of ON DEMAND to provide our Digital Cable customers with local and hyper-local information, entertainment and public service content that is meaningful to their lives."

The new LVOD team will be led by 25-year industry veteran and Eastern Division vice president of programming, Michael Ortman, with day-to-day operations managed by Noah Kodeck in the newly created position of director of Local Video On Demand programming and production. Both Ortman and Kodeck have been instrumental in the development and distribution of leading Video On Demand offerings, including Candidates On Demand, Fugitive Files, Scholarships On Demand, Troop Greetings, Pet Adoptions, and hyper-local offerings ranging from the Philadelphia Asian Festival to a New Jersey St. Patrick's Day parade, the DC Cherry Blossom Festival, Annapolis Polar Bear Plunge for charity, instructional videos for new voting booths, local spelling bees and much more. The Eastern Division's LVOD efforts have been recognized with multiple industry awards for public and community service.

Previously director of production for CN8, The Comcast Network, Kodeck and his team are charged with the production and acquisition of new content for the "Get Local" category. During his eight years at Comcast, Kodeck has worked in production, public affairs and community relations, and has been instrumental in establishing and building numerous local partnerships. His team was responsible for the award-winning "Drive, Think, Live" public safety campaign that helped shape a new drunk driving law in Maryland, and played an integral role in CN8's expansion into the Washington, D.C. area.

Doyle first launched "Get Local" content in 2004. With the majority of customers now Digital Cable users, ON DEMAND has become a tremendous competitive differentiator, and Video On Demand users are the company's most satisfied and loyal customers. In the past year alone, "Get Local" orders have increased by 41% with consumers watching more than 800,000 local programs a month. The Division experienced more than five million LVOD orders through the first half of 2007, and is well on pace to more than double its LVOD views from a year ago.

"The success and growth of LVOD made it the optimal time to establish a group dedicated to identifying and delivering this unique content and taking local to the next level," said Doyle. "We offer 'Get Local' content for many reasons, but most significantly, it is just the right thing to do -- it has unlimited potential to put a face on Comcast and provide our customers with the information and entertainment they want, whenever and however they want it -- and it is something that competitors simply cannot match in breadth or depth."

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)