Some Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots are free for all during Sochi's Winter Olympics

Cable operator Comcast is opening "tens of thousands" of its Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots in high-traffic locations to non-subscribers during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Comcast's Xfinity Wi-Fi site says the company has 500,000 Wi-Fi access points, but only a portion of those will get the free Olympic Wi-Fi service in places such as shopping districts, parks and train platforms and in small businesses. "This will allow both Xfinity Internet customers and non-customers the opportunity to watch all of the action live from their smartphones, tablets or laptops at Xfinity.com/NBCOlympics, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app," Comcast said.

Our sister publication FierceCable noted that the MSO ran a similar free Wi-Fi promotion during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. That strategy contributed to multiplatform viewing records that it set in London, where NBCU delivered 153.4 million videos and 20.4 million hours of video on smartphones and computers. For more, see this FierceCable article.