Cable operator Comcast and Verizon Wireless will start joint marketing of their services in Seattle and Portland from 17 January, offering customers discounts on bundles of mobile, cable-TV, landline and residential internet services. The marketing program will extend to other markets this year and in early 2013. Comcast's Xfinity products will be sold through Verizon Wireless stores, and Comcast will cross-promote Verizon Wireless services through call centres and online. As part of the partnership, Comcast and Verizon Wireless will develop new products to stream content seamlessly between mobile, cable TV and internet platforms, said Tony Heyman, president of integrated media services at Verizon Wireless. The product development will be based in Philadelphia, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Verizon Wireless/Xfinity bundles will be promoted as "the best services for inside and outside the home," said Catherine Avgiris, senior vice president and general manager of communications and data services at Comcast. The initial promotion in Seattle and Portland includes a prepaid Visa card of USD 100-300 for those who sign up for Verizon Wireless/Xfinity bundles. The partnership was announced in early December and was part of a deal in which Comcast and two other cable companies, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, sold spectrum to Verizon Wireless for USD 3.6 billion.
