Comcast CEO to Introduce New Services Today
Cable companies aren’t known as nimble innovators, but Comcast Corp. is out to change that perception this year. It hopes to be fleet of foot with ultra-high-speed Internet service, more high- definition content and gadgets that link video, phone and broadband services.
“We’re about innovation and having the best network,” CEO Brian Roberts said in a preview of his speech at the Consumer Electronics show today.
Roberts is expected to demonstrate a technology that delivers up to 160 megabits of data per second. Such a speed will allow him to download a high-definition copy of the movie “Batman Begins” in four minutes.
The technology, DOCSIS 3.0, will start rolling out this year.
“If it’s as successful as we hope, in 2009 and beyond we will have it available in millions of homes.”
Roberts hopes the speed-up will boost growth of Comcast’s broadband service, which has been slowing.
Cable systems largely enable download speeds up to 10 Mbps – compared with up to 50 Mbps from Verizon’s fiber-optic service FiOS.
“Cable looks like it will be able to keep up with the Joneses,” said Craig Moffett, senior analyst at Sanford Bernstein in New York.
Roberts said Comcast plans to offer more than 1,000 high- definition videos this year, including up to 300 movies on demand that may be free or included in a subscription or a pay-per-view service.
To supplement its movies and TV shows, Comcast plans today to officially launch its Fancast Web site, which has full TV episodes for old and new shows and movies.
Within months, Comcast subscribers will be able to check TV listings on the Fancast site and have the digital video recorder attached to their TV record a show.
In voice, Comcast is rolling out a caller ID service that pops up on TVs and computers of customers who buy its video, Internet and phone package.
And, with VTech, Comcast is developing a cordless phone with a mini-screen on which users can access e-mail.
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO
Originally published by The Associated Press.
(c) 2008 Richmond Times – Dispatch. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.