Imagine being able to download a movie in four minutes. That's what's possible with new technology unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday - technology that makes so-called high-speed Internet 10 times faster than today.
Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, plans to roll out the new service to Americans this year that will hit top speeds of 160 megabits per second.
The company's chief executive Brian Roberts was on stage with Ryan Seacrest, the host ofz TV's American Idol, who was asked to help demonstrate recent upgrades to Comcast's high-speed Internet network.
The upgrades use a technology called DOCsis 3.0. Today's high-speed connections are capable of providing connection speeds of around 10 megabits per second. With the improvements, Comcast will be providing customers with speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second when the service launches this summer.
"People of my generation want it all and we want it all now," said Seacrest.
Using the service, he then downloaded a high-definition copy of the movie Batman Begins in less than four minutes. To tackle the same feat with a dial-up connection would take more than a week. With today's high-speed Internet networks, it would take about six hours.
Comcast did not announce pricing for the new high-speed Internet services. Its cable Internet technologies are similar to those used by Rogers Cable in Canada.
Comcast merged with AT&T Broadband in a $31-billion US deal in 2002. The company offers service to more than 24.2 million TV subscribers (the largest in the U.S.) and 3.3 million high-speed Internet customers. It is also the fourth-largest phone company in the U.S., attracting more than four million customers to its voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) phone service in less than two years.
The company, which employs 90,000 people, reported close to $25 billion US in sales last year.
Demand for faster and easier-to-use Internet service has been growing in the U.S. and in Canada.
"Consumers will continue to use up band width as a much as possible," said Tony Olvet, of technology research and analysis group IDC Canada.
The faster speed also could improve home security services and computer gaming applications, he said.
Realizing the dangers and opportunities emerging online services offer to consumers, Roberts has been one of the most vocal proponents of the need for high-speed Internet services in every home.
With new offerings such as Joost and Hulu providing people with high-quality TV content online for free, cable companies have been forced to examine how to keep their customer base in the ever-changing digital world.
Speaking Tuesday, Roberts unwrapped the company's new Fancast service that will be a free online offering to Comcast customers which allows them to watch all of their favourite TV shows on demand over the Internet. This is the first time a cable company has offered TV programs over the web.
Until now, only broadcasters have offered online viewing of the content. NBC Universal's hit show Heroes is available on its website, while ABC Corp., offers shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives.
With Fancast, customers will be able to watch all of their favourite TV shows over the Internet, regardless of the broadcaster, wherever they may be.
"There have been moments in time when the cable industry has been at a major inflection point. This is one of those times," said Roberts. "In today's converged world, we must give customers what they want and how they want it."
The online service also can help customers set their digital video recorders at home for future broadcasts of their favourite shows.
In addition, Roberts announced Comcast will be increasing its video-on-demand offering of movies and old hard-to-find TV shows by more than 10,000 titles. The extra offerings will be free of charge to existing customers.
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