Cablers Are Mad About iPad

Comcast, CableLabs Push Tablet-Based Remotes

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/25/2010 12:01:00 AM

New Orleans — Changing the channel with an iPad tablet isn’t just a neat parlor trick — it fundamentally enhances the TV experience, said Todd Walker, Comcast’s senior vice president of video product development.

The iPad is the newest darling of the cable industry. Comcast plans to release its iPad app, which lets subscribers change channels, as well as search listings and video-ondemand, “very, very soon,” Walker said on a panel here last week at the CTAM Summit.

CableLabs has developed a prototype for a similar iPad remote control and is looking to establish a common technical approach for syncing up Internet-based devices with set-top boxes.

“It is a fundamental game-changer,” Walker said. “The thing that’s different is, it’s so easy for consumers to find what they want — and get instant fulfillment.”

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts got the iPad hoopla rolling at the Cable Show in May, showing off a demo of an early prototype in his keynote.

Six months later, the iPad remote is nearly ready for commercial launch, Walker said. According to an executive familiar with Comcast’s plans, the “Xfinity Remote” app for the Apple iPad is scheduled to be available either Nov. 17 or 18.

Comcast also expects to extend the feature to Android-based phones and “any device you can think of,” Walker added. “We expect to turn releases every 90 days,” he said. “We have lots of pent-up features we want to put into this.”

CableLabs worked up an iPad remote proof of concept in about three and half weeks, following Roberts’ demo, according to senior architect Debbie Fitzgerald. Smallermarket operators came to CableLabs to ask for assistance putting an iPad remote together.

“Every operator we’ve spoken to is interested in enhancing their service in this way,” Fitzgerald said.

The Comcast and CableLabs apps use the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) spec to communicate with set-tops, with an Internet server handling the communication between the set-top and iPad or other device.

“The important thing is these are not IPenabled set-top boxes,” Fitzgerald said. “We can roll out these services quickly on existing infrastructure.”

The CableLabs prototype app provides searches, navigation, channel surfi ng and program information. Additional apps are also possible, Fitzgerald added, such as enhanced guide listings, synchronized advertising and social networking.

Time Warner Cable, for its part, has previously discussed its own project for delivering an iPad remote app.

Comcast employees who have participate in the iPad remote control trial watch more video on demand, and more paid VOD, according to Walker. In some markets, Comcast has 30,000 titles on VOD: “It’s impossible to navigate that on the TV. It’s really easy on a tablet,” he said.

After using the prototype iPad remote at home, Walker said, “I will never use my onscreen guide again.”