Comcast to broadcast info on missing children

Kyron Horman, then 7, did not come home on the
school bus at 3:30 p.m. June 4 as he usually did each day. His
stepmother says she dropped him off at his Portland, Ore., elementary
school at 8:45 that morning, but teachers say he never made it to class.
He's been missing ever since.


Starting today, Kyron's story and photo will be available to nearly 20 million
Comcast cable customers in more than 25 cities in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

"Somebody knows where this child is," says center President Ernie Allen.
"If we reach that one person, we increase the likelihood that we'll get that one lead that will bring the child home."

The public service campaign comes a day before Comcast closes its deal with General Electric for 51% of a joint venture that includes NBC Universal. The deal makes Comcast the nation's most powerful media, entertainment and news company.

Comcast created the missing kids videos after having some success with its Police Blotter
program, which features fugitives. Police credit the crime videos with
generating tips that led to 90 arrests, says Diana Kerekes, vice
president of entertainment services for Philadelphia-based Comcast.

"We'd be thrilled if we found 90 missing children in four years," Allen says.

Comcast's Missing Kids On Demand can be
accessed online at xfinity.com/news/missingkids or on TV in the OnDemand
menu under local content, Kerekes says. Areas carrying the videos
include Atlanta; Baltimore; Philadelphia;
Pittsburgh; Memphis; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago; Washington; Denver;
Houston; Indianapolis; Little Rock; Portland, Ore.; Richmond, Va.; San
Francisco; Seattle; South Florida and Minneapolis.

Twenty, two-minute video profiles are available.
The videos include the child's name, description, photo, possible
whereabouts and a narrative of the disappearance. Each month, the
missing children's center and Comcast will rotate new videos into the
lineup. Each video will be available for at least 12 weeks.

Key to the success will be getting viewers to watch the videos, Allen says.

"Missing-child photos work. Average people doing
average things and simply paying attention are helping us reunite
missing children with their families every day," he says.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-27-missingkids27_ST_N.htm