Comcast to Start Testing Remote-Storage Video Recording Service
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable-TV provider, plans to start testing a video-recording service that lets customers store programs remotely on the company’s server computers, rather than on their set-top boxes.
Comcast will test the so-called cloud-based recording service in some markets late this year or early next year, Chief Technology Officer Tony Werner said in an interview at an industry event in Chicago today.
The Philadelphia-based company is adding new services after losing basic cable-TV customers for at least four years amid competition from phone companies, satellite-TV providers and Internet-video sites. A remote-storage service requires cable carriers to boost investment in their data centers, while allowing them to curb spending on set-top boxes.
“We like the idea of a cloud DVR because you can virtually service your customers,” Werner said. “We’ll start to roll it out, see what the response is and go from there.”
Werner said it was too early to know the initial markets or pricing for the new service. Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC), the New York area cable operator, said in February it had started providing a remote-storage recording service in the city and that it had stopped buying physical digital video recorders.
Comcast rose 22 cents to $23.93 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 8.9 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Sherman in New York at asherman6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
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