News
Comcast
Unveils Net-Fueled TV Guide
By Swanni
Washington, D.C.
(May 21, 2012)
-- Comcast today announced at the 2012 Cable Show that it's
launching its new Internet-enabled X1 TV guide in Boston.
The annual Cable Show, which regularly features new product
announcements, begins today in Boston and runs through
Wednesday.
Comcast this morning said it will launch X1 (formerly known as
Xcalibur) "in the coming weeks" in Boston with "several major
markets planned to follow this year."
The cable operator said the X1 would feature:
A main screen with a new
user interface that integrates a customer’s video
experiences and enables one-click access to a highly visual
display of entertainment options
Unified search and
instant play, along with recommendations, with the ability
to find entertainment content in seconds from TV listings,
DVR recordings and Xfinity On Demand using a new smart
remote
Specially tailored-for-TV
features such as customized social networking and music,
radio, sports, traffic and weather apps
Equipped with a new hybrid
DVR set-top box with tru2way and IP capabilities that
delivers an advanced personalized TV viewing experience as
well as an enhanced remote control that offers greater
responsiveness and does not require a line-of-sight
connection to the set-top-box
Plus, a new Xi remote control
app enables customers to use motion and gesture control
through the touch-screen of their handheld iPhone and iPod
touch.
At last
year's Cable Show in Chicago, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts first
introduced the X1, then referred to as the 'Xcalibur.'
Roberts showed how the new TV guide would integrate several
Net features such as Facebook. He said the
guide would enable viewers to track TV shows by whether your Facebook friends "liked" them as well as deliver Pandora's music
service, local weather and traffic reports and program
recommendations based on what you've watched previously.
Since that announcement, the cable operator has been testing
X1 in Augusta, Georgia.
Below is a video demonstration of the new X1 from Comcast exec
Neil Smit:
