Comcast Launches New Tech Unit

Comcast this week launched a new division that combines three of its media and tech businesses – Comcast Wholesale, thePlatform and This Technology.

That unit, now called Comcast Technology Solutions, is led by division SVP and GM Matt McConnell.

Comcast acquired This Technology, a vendor that is playing a role in its IP video transition, in 2015. Comcast acquired thePlatform, a Seattle-based online video publishing specialist, back in 2006 for what’s believed to be about $100 million.

Earlier this year, Comcast Wholesale and thePlatform rolled out theVideoPlatform, billing it as a unified system for the distribution of broadcast and digital video to multiple screens, a move that placed it in more direct competition with companies such as MLB Advanced Media, Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS), NeuLion, and Ooyala, Akamai, Amazon Web Services, and IBM (which recently bought Clearleap and Ustream), among others.

The newly-formed unit recently won a deal to underpin Time Inc.’s new ad-supported, multiplatform People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Comcast Technology Soltuions said it worked with Perfect Sense Digital to create PEN’s user interface.

“Comcast Technology Solutions is at the nexus of broadcast and IP convergence. By bringing our technologies together, we provide the greatest breadth and depth of media distribution, management and monetization solutions in the industry,” McConnell said in a statement.