Comcast testing sports app that delivers 'instant access to all of the games on television'

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is testing a cloud-based app for its interactive program guide which will give subscribers "instant access to all of the games on television," CEO Brian Roberts said Wednesday.

Roberts

The app appears similar to the mosaic program guides that DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) use to deliver a grid that displays live video from six or more networks on a single channel. The sports app is one of several interactive TV services Comcast is testing on its Augusta, Ga. system, which the company has referred to internally as Project Excalibur. It's also testing apps for Facebook and Pandora Internet Radio, and has said that it will soon announce other interactive apps that it will distribute through the next-generation Xfinity TV service.

Roberts told analysts on Comcast's third-quarter earnings call that distributing its next-generation program guide through a cloud-based network will allow the company to "move quickly and make tweaks and modifications and create new apps."

Comcast plans to expand the deployment of its next-generation guide to a major market during the first quarter, Comcast Cable Communications president Neil Smit said on the earnings call. In addition to deploying the next-generation guide through its "Parker box"--a set-top from Pace that delivers both digital cable and IP-based content-- Comcast will deploy the next generation guide though high-definition DVRs manufactured by other cable set-top vendors and through "customer owned devices" such as Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360, Smit said.

Comcast's next-generation guide could help it compete with more advanced digital cable products from rivals Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T). The sports app Roberts teased Wednesday is another service that could appeal to subscribers, but rights issues could limit Comcast's ability to offer access to all live sports programming. For example, DirecTV, with its exclusive rights agreement with the National Football League, is the only pay TV provider that can show subscribers live feeds from up to eight football games on a single screen through its Game Mix channel.

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