Comcast Talks 100 Mbit/s 'Net Access for Consumers
01.08.08
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2008's "Project Infinity" to provide boost for HD movies, too.
by Chloe Albanesius
CES 2008 Coverage
LAS VEGAS—Comcast on Tuesday pledged to ramp up its high-definition, on-demand content and roll out increased speed and bandwidth by year's end as part of an initiative dubbed Project Infinity.
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Comcast is tinkering with "wideband" cable Internet access, also known as DOCSIS 3.0, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said during a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
A movie download that might take six hours on today's DSL connection, for example, will take only four minutes with wideband, Roberts said.
"We'll have DOCSIS 3.0 rolled out in front of millions of … homes by the end of this year," Roberts said. "No competitor will have this much speed in so many homes.
"Today when we deliver broadband, we're using spectrum on our cable system that's equivalent to … 12 to 16 megabits/second," Roberts added. "Using DOCSIS 3.0, [the network can achieve] 100 megabits per second over the next year."
That increased speed will likely be of assistance when Comcast increases its on-demand content. The cable provider plans to offer over 1,000 HD selections – up from 250 – by the end of 2008, Roberts said. "What satellite says they'll offer pales in comparison."
Under the auspices of Project Infinity, Comcast is also looking to offer over 6,000 movies on-demand each month by 2009 – 3,000 of which will be high-definition.
Project Infinity will use Comcast's existing fiber network and national IP backbone, and Comcast will eventually plan to create a system of library servers that will serve video on-demand content to consumers from several locations across the country.
Comcast's library will be "the content-hungry consumer's dream," Roberts said.
The cable industry has been facing increasing competition from phone providers entering the video market. In November, Verizon announced that it would offer 150 HD channels and expand its FiOS TV programming in 2008.
Roberts accused phone companies of "coming late to video. They're not going to wire all the neighborhoods."
Comcast's increased content will be available via Fancast.com, a video Web site that had its official launch Tuesday after five-month beta period, Roberts said.
The 3,000 hours of video footage, 10,000 movie trailers and 50,000 celebrity photos on Fancast.com will come straight from Comcast's content providers, with video site Hulu providing NBC and FOX video content.
Fancast will soon allow Comcast subscribers to program their DVRs and set video on-demand bookmarks from their computers.
The site also includes a celebrity component, with a section dubbed Six Degrees that shows how certain stars are linked to one another.
The site is a "launching pad for convergence between PC and TV," Roberts said. "Comcast is already the largest purchaser of TV content and now we're bringing those relationships to the Internet."
Comcast will also integrate its Digital Voice service with e-mail and TV, so users can receive voicemail via their e-mail accounts, program their DVR via e-mail and see their caller ID on the TV screen, Roberts said.
"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest made an appearance at the keynote to help Roberts introduce Fancast, while Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" closed the event with a performance of their song "Business Time."
