PHILADELPHIA—Comcast Corp. will unveil a new multi-screen platform next week that will allow content to be distributed via television, online and through wireless devices.
The new platform will initially provide Halloween-related content such as horror movies when it is launched on Tuesday, according to remarks by John Alchin, executive vice president and co-chief financial officer for Comcast, during a conference call with analysts. Dubbed “FearNet,” the service will be available through the company’s video-on-demand service and Web site and through wireless devices.
The company did not offer details on the wireless portion of the service.
As far as Comcast’s participation in a coalition of cable companies and Sprint Nextel Corp. during the recent advanced wireless services spectrum auction, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Brian Roberts, said that the spectrum purchase “gives us great flexibility and optionality on a nationwide basis with other cable partners.”
He said that about 99 percent of Comcast’s cable territories are covered with 20 megahertz of spectrum.
Asked about the potential uses for the spectrum, Roberts would say only that “when we’re ready and have something meaningful to say there, we will. At this point, we really viewed it as a strategic opportunity to put some capital into the spectrum. That allows us to now engage in a variety of conversations to see what are the best technologies, when is the best timetable. As we’ve said, we really want to see what consumers want, and we’re going to explore that.”
He added that when looking at the “big picture” of Comcast, “if you want and need to—and when the timing is right—to be able to have your own frequencies and your own network, integrated perhaps with others or with your own cable engineering, we’re in a position to do that and we’re in control of our own destiny.”
Roberts also noted that the company has “a good relationship with Sprint, and we would like to bring some products to market as we previously reported.”
The first products from Sprint Nextel’s joint venture with four cable companies, including Comcast, are supposed to launch in trial markets this quarter.
