Comcast CEO: We are not a dead duck
SAN FRANCISCO--Cable companies get a lot of criticism from the Silicon Valley set for being some of the ultimate 20th century corporate dinosaurs. Or, as Web 2.0 Summit conference organizer John Battelle put it, "a dead duck."
So the head of Comcast, a company that's taken loads of heat from tech experts--for imposing bandwidth caps, poor customer service, and an alleged failure to innovate on both broadband speeds and the convergence between television and the Web--was an interesting choice to kick off the summit event here on Tuesday. But Comcast CEO Brian Roberts spun his company to the audience as springing from the same kind of entrepreneurial spirit that the Bay Area prides itself on.
He spoke of how he took over the reins of the company from his father, who according to legend was able to make an early strategic acquisition thanks to the winnings from a Tupelo, Miss., poker game the night before. "Similar to probably almost everyone in this room, (he) wanted to work for himself, wanted to start his own business."
He previewed new features for the Comcast video hub Fancast, which it launched slightly under two years ago at the Consumer Electronics Show. The new beta of Fancast, which will launch by year's end, will make new on-demand content available online, much of it unavailable in outlets like iTunes--and integrated with DVR boxes--to Comcast cable subscribers who already pay for HBO. About two dozen content providers have signed on board, and as Roberts scrolled through the preview, he noted that there were about a thousand movies available.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts
(Credit: Comcast)Battelle, interviewing Roberts onstage, called it "video-on-demand on steroids."
The Associated Press, referencing a briefing this week with executives at Comcast's Philadelphia headquarters, helped fill in some of the details about the service, noting that it would include such popular cable shows as HBO's "Entourage" and AMC's "Mad Men" and for now is being called "On Demand Online."
The AP said Comcast subscribers can initially watch shows and movies only on their home computers after being verified by the cable system. Online viewing, at least in the beginning, will be restricted to those who get Internet service through Comcast, not through competitors like phone companies, the AP said.
Back at Web 2.0 Summit, Roberts also said that Comcast investments in broadband technology are, in part, what has facilitated the explosion in Web innovation.
"We're going to keep investing, because we believe there are great ideas in this room and in this country and in the world," Roberts said. "In the same way, it's unthinkable that a Google or a Yahoo or a Facebook or a Twitter would be happening if we hadn't made those investments (in broadband infrastructure) 15 years ago."
Battelle asked Roberts why he believes the U.S. lags behind in broadband technology advancements. Roberts replied, "I think that that's just not true."
(The audience laughed uncomfortably.)
"We have the same equipment (as other countries), the same wires, the same infrastructure, why is the adoption different is a different question. It's not the availability and I don't think it's the lack of speed," he continued. "You get to digital literacy, you get to what language it's in, do you have the right PC or a PC at all...I don't believe the infrastructure providers haven't done enough."
As for Net neutrality, an issue where Comcast has been a frequent villain after imposing bandwidth caps and interfering with peer-to-peer file-sharing software, Roberts was vague.
"We welcome that discussion, that scrutiny, and we're going to be an active participant," he said. "The few limited examples, including our own, that have gotten notoriety usually get dealt with in ten seconds, and changes get made, because this is new technology."
More recently, it's bubbled into the press that Comcast is in talks with General Electric to obtain a controlling stake in its NBC Universal property. Conveniently, GE chief Jeffrey Immelt was slated to speak later in the afternoon at Web 2.0 Summit.
"You and Jeff Immelt must have finished the NBC deal back in the green room," Battelle joked.
Roberts replied facetiously, "It's all done."
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
No, Comcast needs to realize that they are behind the times, and so do other companies that do Comcast-like things.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/the-cost-to-offer-the-worlds-fastest-broadband-20-per-home/
Explains why in Japan, they get 160 MPS, for around $20 or so.
Offering higher speed service to customers, would kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
" cable operators are concerned that not only will prices fall, but that the super-fast service will encourage customers to watch video on the Web and drop their cable service.
The industry is worried that by offering 100 Mbps, they are opening Pandora?s box. Everyone will be able to get video on the Internet, and then competition will bring the price for the broadband down from $80 to $60 to $40."
Unfortunately, Comcast is like Ma Bell of the 1970's - even with all of its problems, it remains the best choice available.
Rather sad when you think about that though...
There is real cost, however, with the prices of cable/broadband going up, the speeds and quality remain the same. I'm so tired of getting pix artifacts, and spot loss of sound on my TV, that I just turn it off. I was going to go with Verizon Fios like the rest of my neighbors over the summer, because they offered more everything for less money, but found out you need a box for each TV in your home, and I have over 10 TV's in different rooms, so I would have to pay for a box for each one, and that was not a option. I called to cancel my Comcast service, and go Back to DSL, and OTA HDTV, because I was paying $105 a month for basic cable channels and midline broadband internet. When I tried to cancel, the person on the phone asked why, and I told him it was to expensive, and the service was subpar.
It's at this point he tells me, " we're not suppose to mention this, but you can get the same thing you have now, plus HBO, plus a digital set top recording box for less what your paying now, but you have to go to our web site and look for it, and do it online there." I pay $72 a month now, but I get more stuff than I did before at $105? So Comcast screws you till you get ready to leave, then they start throwing you a bone to keep you. Hmmmm, sounds like a interesting business plan to me. Now looking at their web site, I see they are only offering it to you for 6 months now, then raise the price. Thank god I locked in my payment before they changed their mind again.
As you mention in 1 of your prior post about a corporation being greedy, and described it to a tee, doesn't seem to fit the same mold, or hold the same standard that you set for comcast.
Bottom line..., comcast would sell it's soul, and go into deep debt to purchase a TW or equivalent, to be the number one provider of broadband services...., then on top of that raise our prices again to pay for the acquisition .
Its really that simple
To Internet users.... you are an ISP. We don't care about movies from you or what web 2.0 innovations you think you're working on, etc. We just want you to provide a good, reliable, fast pipe to the Internet at a reasonable price. You're failing on both accounts... speed and especially price!
Roberts - "We have the same equipment (as other countries), the same wires, the same infrastructure, why is the adoption different is a different question."
Umm.... well, if that's that case then you'd better get your techs on the speed thing, because you don't have the same speed. And, maybe you should look into the price thing too while you're at it. You're just so incredibly out of line, maybe that's the 'adoption' problem. What people are looking for is speeds like you're more entry level services for $10 / mo. and your top-o-the-line services (only a little faster, especially on upload speed) for $40 / mo. After you pull that off, then we'll start talking about how you compare to other countries.
Until then I'll stick with the free airwaves or use web TV sites. Dish/Direct is also way over-priced.
on a comcast network then comcast IS a lame duck.
So that is why we switched to FIOS. No more lag! :-)
The reason is the US is much, much larger in terms of square footage, than most of the highly wired countries such as Japan (Japan is about the size of California, I think). Also, the US is much less dense, population-wise, than these other countries.
The lower population density makes it much more costly because bandwidth companies cannot get enough customers to foot the bill to expand coverage more.
Now, if WiMAX makes deployment costs much cheaper, that offers some real hope for good high speed Internet connections, fairly cheaply across the US, especially in rural areas.
In fact, some developing countries totally skipped putting in landlines and went straight to cell phone deployment because it's a lot cheaper to put up cell towers than many, many telephone poles (with their wiring) to every house, proving deployment cost is an issue in other countries besides the US.
WiMax is not a replacement for wired braodband. It is a shared medium, so even if the rated speed is 15 Mbps (not very fast), not everybody on th eblock can get 15 Mbps at the same time. Don't even dream of watching HD video over WiMax, it's not going to work (nor will LTE).
Yes, developing countries skipped wired phones and went straight to mobile phones, but the bandwidth requirements for phones is so much less than video or even basic web surfing.
U.S service providers do not care about delivering best in the world service, or even just good service. They will only do the minimum to keep the government from questioning them. They DON'TCARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS, especially Comcast.
- by solblack October 21, 2009 9:41 AM PDT
- If you believe Comcast is doing a great JOB you must WORK for them!
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(16 Comments)Explains why in Japan, they get 160 MPS, for around $20 or so.
Because its the american way to rip us off and make us believe were getting a deal.
It can be done! It will never happen because all corporation in america love to rip citizens off!
Were a bunch of SUCKERS and if you don't believe that your the biggest SUCKER of them all!