Screaming to Be Heard

When Comcast, Sony and Lionsgate launch their new horror film network on Halloween, they will use so-called "FEARnet ambassadors" to infiltrate the online horror community and post messages in chat rooms, forums and instant message programs. That is just one of the many marketing tactics the new-style network will employ, but it is one that underscores networks' need to be heard in a cluttered entertainment world. That is because FEARnet is not a linear channel. It is a video-on-demand and broadband network featuring horror films. Then there is HealthiNation, which launched as a VOD network on Insight this summer and introduced a corresponding broadband network earlier this month.