Comcast COO Says MSO Has Now Deployed EBIF in 12 Million Households in 30 Markets

During Comcast's conference call with financial analysts following the release of its Q4, 2009 results, Wednesday, CEO, Brian Roberts, and COO, Steve Burke, provided a brief update on the status of its interactive TV deployments and plans.

"We will...continue to invest in our network, extending our technical capabilities even further, more widely deploying EBIF technology, for instance, to support interactive TV and advertising," Roberts stated in his presentation. "And through our newly formed Comcast Labs we will focus on extending and integrating IP technology in order to improve the customer experience, accelerate the pace at which we introduce new products, and expand our cross-platform experiences."

Burke, meanwhile, stated that "in the last 18 months, in conjunction with Canoe [Ventures] we've made real progress on the ITV front. We've enabled about 12 million households in 30 markets to use the EBIF platform to deliver reliable interactive applications to our customers. These applications include caller ID to the TV, now available in 3.5 million homes; [and] RFI--request for information--piloting in three markets: Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit. We're testing Remind-Record and we're also testing Shop by Remote with Home Shopping Network. In 2010 you'll see us continue to grow our footprint while launching new ITV applications. At the same time, we're working hand in hand with other MSO's in Canoe to establish standards and provide a national footprint. We think that is really important to making ITV really break through. We're excited about Canoe and think it represents a big opportunity for the industry as we ramp up interactive advertising products on a national basis." (Note: Comcast on Wednesday also announced that it is rebranding its various services with its Xfinity brand, which was originally used to brand its implementation of the TV Everywhere distribution model. Multichannel News's Todd Spangler has more.)