Comcast Deploys Microsoft TV

The first production deployment of any Microsoft TV platform by a cable company in the United States will begin in late 2004 when Comcast digital cable customers in Washington State (where Microsoft is based) start getting new on-screen program guides and other services built on Microsoft TV Foundation Edition. The venture marks achievement of a goal that Microsoft has been pursuing since the 1990s. The Comcast deployment also includes optional digital video recording (DVR) at a very competitive price, a feature that could hurt demand for stand-alone digital video recorders and Media Center PCs.

Years in the Making

Between 1997 and 2001, Microsoft invested more than US$8 billion in cable TV companies, including US$5 billion into AT&T and US$1 billion into Comcast. (Comcast later bought AT&T Broadband, and Microsoft ended up with less than a 5% voting share of Comcast.) Although some of these investments were made with the hope that cable companies would deploy Microsoft TV (MSTV) platform software, only one investee moved beyond testing into deployment-TV Cabo in Portugal.