RealNetworks Ties Up With Comcast For Music; Intel For Set Top Boxes

On Monday, RealNetworks will announce a tie-up with Comcast on offering its Rhapsody music service to Comcast broadband subscribers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said they would give away millions of songs in November and December as part of a promotion under which Comcast customers and RealOne users would be offered 7 days of free access to Rhapsody.

Real already offers Rhapsody through such ISPs such as Time Warner’s Road Runner and Verizon Communications.

This is Real’s second tie-up with Comcast: it already has a games deal tie-up, offering RealOne Arcade to Comcast users.

Interestingly, Comcast will also run TV ads for Rhapsody on its cable service…these will be Rhapsody’s first TV ads.

The Intel deal, also to be announced Monday, will include the chipmaker and Real will providing software to makers of set-top boxes and other devices that help people transfer music from a PC to a stereo, TV or other device. One of the first to get the software is Rockford Corp., maker of a device called Omnifi. Omnifi, a set-top box, lets people take content from their PC and transfer it to their TV and/or stereo system.

Rhapsody subscribers can use Omnifi to select songs via their TV set and play them over their stereo. The Omnifi device sells for around $300 and includes a remote-control clicker, so couch potatoes can easily access songs.

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