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Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) may attempt to use group discounts similar to those marketed by Groupon and LivingSocial to sell movies on its Xfinity On Demand platform the same day they are released in theaters, according to a U.S. Patent application obtained by FierceCable.
Comcast filed the patent application in November 2011, weeks after it killed a controversial plan to sell a VOD version of the Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller comedy Tower Heist for $60 three weeks after it was to be released in theaters. The MSO scrapped the idea after theater owners threatened to boycott the film from Comcast subsidiary Universal Pictures.
The patent application, titled "Media...