Comcast Eyes Hook-Ups

MSO to Bring VOD to Consoles, Connected TVs

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 10/10/2011 12:01:00 AM

New York — Comcast — which is planning to deliver on-demand content through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 around Christmas — is also aiming to extend VOD to game consoles from Sony and Nintendo, as well as connected TVs and devices like the Roku set-top, Sam Schwartz, president of Comcast Converged Products, said on a CTAM in New York panel.

“We want to be on screens that consumers want us to be on,” Schwartz said.

But Comcast won’t try to emulate Netflix, which makes its service available on more than 200 consumer-electronics devices, because of the expense of maintaining all those platforms.

“I don’t envy Netflix’s maintenance task,” Schwartz said. “What people don’t realize is, once you port to a platform, you’re going to have to live with that device for a long time.”

In addition to the three game consoles — Xbox, Sony’s Play- Station 3 and Nintendo’s Wii — Comcast expects to provide Xfinity On Demand through “a couple of the TV manufacturers,” including LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, and Roku Internet-connected set-top boxes, Schwartz said.

At the same time, Schwartz said, it remains to be seen how many consumers gravitate toward other devices.

“Nobody knows how much consumers want to go to input B,” Schwartz said, referring to the source selection on a TV. “Input A, that’s where they spend five, six hours a day.”

The Xbox feature will become available to Comcast Xfinity broadband and TV customers in the “Christmas-ish” time frame, Schwartz said. That will provide a “rich navigation experience,” he added, including cover art and the ability to scroll through titles using the game controller, or with Microsoft’s Kinect gesture- and voice-recognition attachment that lets users wave their hands in midair or speak voice commands.

Schwartz also discussed Comcast’s Xcalibur project, which provides an advanced user interface and Internet-connected apps including weather, traffic, Pandora and Facebook. The Xcalibur service — which is now in a 1,000-household trial in Augusta, Ga. — was demonstrated by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the 2011 Cable Show.

“Next year is when we take it across the country,” he said.

A key goal of Xcalibur is to provide better search and navigation features. “There’s almost a Chinese wall between the grid, VOD and DVR,” Schwartz said. “This is one, usercentric view of the content.”

In the Augusta trial, the traffic and weather apps have been the two most popular. Schwartz noted that more than 50% of people are choosing to set up Facebook accounts through the Xcalibur guide.