January 8, 2008

CES 2008: What Is Comcast's Project Infinity?

Project Infinity was one of Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts' announcements at CES today, but for those that who missed it, you're probably wondering what Project Infinity is all about.

Project Infinity is Comcast's vision to make all high-def content available to viewers on demand. That includes sports, movies, kid's programming, network TV and even user-generated content where you want it, when you want it. And by where you want it, we mean all platforms from your living room HDTV to your mobile phone.

Comcast will use its existing infrastructure, in place for its current Comcast On Demand service, to support Project Infinity, which will also include servers placed around the United States that will serve VOD content and enable the company to greatly expand their library of HD content which already offers about 10000 selections each month.

Their expanded library will include more than 1000 HD movie and TV show selections each month by the end of 2008, and by sometime in the beginning of 2009 Comcast plans to make 6000 movie titles available each month, 3000 of those in high definition. This wasn't the only announcement by Comcast today however.

The company also launched their Fancast IPTV initiative, featuring full-length TV shows only, as well as a TV listing management feature and Fandango, an online movie ticket vendor. Interestingly, you can't watch shows in full screen, nor can you embed them outside the site. Comcast hopes their Fancast service will provide an "an “easy way to manage their entertainment experience as the number of viewing choices that are available across platforms continues to grow rapidly.” Like IPTV competitor Hulu, Fancast has its detractors. Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider recommends that Comcast ditch Fancast altogether and buy Netflix. But then again, for those who remember the dot-com crash of the early 21st century, you just shouldn't listen to Henry Blodget (sorry Henry, bad joke, your blog is one of my favorites).