Comcast chief Brian Roberts delivered two main messages to the digital media industry in his CES 2008 keynote talk:
To the telcos like Verizon and AT&T he said we’re coming at you directly with broadband speeds up to 100 Mbps this year, and we’re going to continue to pick subscribers from your suddenly very vulnerable residential phone service; to Internet-as-entertainment network partisans, Roberts promised an increasingly Internet-like pay TV service ‘ everything from buckets of ‘when you want it’ videos, much of it free, to interactivity just like on the Net.
Enabling an internet-like look and feel is a new CableLabs’ developed technology called Tru2way, previously named ‘OpenCable Applications Platform’ (OCAP). It’s being built into TV sets, set-top boxes and other electronic devices to give consumers pay-TV television anywhere, anytime they want.
Tru2way is an open standard that allows cable companies, content developers, network programmers and consumer electronics companies to develop interactive services a la the Internet. Software developers will only have to write one version of an application and it will work on almost every cable system in the United States as well as in other countries.
Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Intel, TiVo, Motorola, Cisco and Microsoft are among the companies participating in the Tru2way project.
Tru2way will allow content to be stored and played on portable devices too. Panasonic will introduce a Tru2way-based portable DVR player that will let consumers watch recorded shows and movies anytime and anywhere ‘ in the home, at the beach or on a road trip.
The Panasonic AnyPlay P-DVR (which we reported on last week) has 60GB of digital video recording capacity, an 8.5-inch folding LCD display screen and integrated stereo speakers. When placed onto a companion docking station, the AnyPlay P-DVR functions as a standard DVR set-top box that lets viewers watch and record their favorite television programs from their television sets. However, unlike a traditional set-top box, the AnyPlay P-DVR can be taken out of its docking station, so recorded programs can be watched anywhere in or out of the home. The AnyPlay P-DVR also can playback DVDs and audio CDs. In the docking station, it provides the user complete access to digital cable services including video on demand and interactive program guides.
Comcast and Panasonic are working together to develop a ‘plug and play,’ interactive-digital-cable-ready TV set, with tru2way technology inside. Consumers simply bring the set home from the store and plug it in to begin receiving all available interactive cable services ‘ no set-top box is needed because it’s built into the TV. Customers also will only need one remote to be able to watch their favorite programs with Comcast’s HD and On Demand services.
There’s still a dearth of quality videos available legally on the internet. There’s also the problem of getting that video from the net via a PC to the TV sets where most prefer to watch.
Bridging the gap is Comcast’s Project Infinity (Wonder if that means every TV show, every movie ever made), which promises more than 1,000 HD choices in 2008 ‘ all delivered directly to the TV set ‘ no PC, no Internet connection required. Roberts said the goal is to give consumers the ability to watch any movie, television show, user-generated content or other video that a producer wants to make available on its On Demand service.
‘Project Infinity plans to give consumers the best and most content they will find On Demand anywhere ‘ more HD, more sports, more movies, kids’ programs and network TV,’ said Roberts, Comcast CEO. ‘Project Infinity builds on our commitment to bring more content to people across all platforms at home and on the go, and we’ll work with our partners, programmers and video producers to deliver on this vision.’
He said the company envisions ever-increasing customer choice that continues the evolution of time-shifted viewing ‘ all available to consumers at the click of the remote without having to buy any additional equipment.
Comcast’s On Demand library currently offers more than 10,000 constantly changing selections each month. There have been six billion ‘views’ since Comcast first offered the service in 2003. The current run rate is 100 times per second with 275 million views monthly.
Comcast plans to make more than 1,000 TV shows and movies available by year-end. It said HD content is the fastest growing of any content.
Comcast plans to offer beginning in 2009 more than 6,000 movies a month including more than 3,000 in HD. Who needs Apple TV or a Netgear Entertainer HD? Well, it’s everyone who doesn’t live in Comcast geography.
Comcast’s Fancast.com, the first online destination service, will allow its subscribers to find, manage and watch television and movie content wherever it is available ‘ on the net on Fancast.com, on television, online, on DVDs or in movie theaters. The company currently makes more than 90,000 videos available at any time on Comcast.net.