Comcast Business announced the company’s award-winning X1 video platform is now available to the millions of bars, restaurants, hotels, gyms and other businesses across Comcast’s footprint.†X1 for Business†includes easier search and navigation, voice control and a picture-in-picture, sports content companion called the X1 Sports App that includes team and players profiles, statistics and real-time, game-specific data.
The launch of X1 for Business arrives just in time for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, one of the most profitable times of the year for sports bars and restaurants when fans want to watch multiple games at once and be among friends and co-workers. According to the American Gaming Association, 70 million college basketball brackets†are filled out annually and last year, first-round coverage†averaged 8.6 million†television viewers, up from 8.2 million in 2017.
“Businesses across the country can now offer their customers the same award-winning video experience that millions of people experience every day in their living room,” said Christian Nascimento, Vice President Product and Premise Services, Comcast Business. “X1 for Business is a game-changer – whether it’s a bar or restaurant integrating sports stats into the viewing experience, a hotel or gym giving customers an easier way to find what they want to watch or a small business helping their guests pass the time in the lobby or waiting room.”
Today, about two-thirds of Comcast’s residential customers have X1. X1 for Business will offer businesses and their customers:
- Voice Control:†Businesses can use the X1 Voice Remote to quickly search for networks, shows, and movies, change the channel, get recommendations, navigate content and more. There are more than 24 million residential voice remotes deployed and there were 8 billion voice searches last year alone.
- On-Screen Guide:†The easy to use on-screen guide and search functionality allows employees to focus on serving customers, and not searching for programming. A view of the last nine channels makes accessing popular and most-watched content easier than ever.
- Sports Content: Provide customers with up-to-the-minute sports updates. The X1 Sports app brings real-time scores and statistics to sports like baseball, football, basketball, and NASCAR, alongside the in-game action
- Accessibility:†The X1 talking guide is the industry’s first and only voice-enabled television user interface that reads aloud selections like program titles, network, and time slots, serving as a solution for TV fans who have a visual disability.
- Language of Choice:†Bicultural customers can quickly change the guide and channel listings from English to Spanish and find Spanish-language and SAP-enabled programming through advanced filtering directly within the experience.
“Comcast has the potential to disrupt the nearly $4 billion United States business TV market with X1 for Business,” said Greg Ireland, multiscreen video analyst at IDC. “Products and solutions that have generated excellent results on the residential side can help businesses gain an edge in attracting new and returning customers.”
X1 for Business is now available to businesses across Comcast’s footprint. Customers from across industries will begin upgrading their service to enhance experiences such as in-room, voice-controlled TV watching in hotels; real-time sports stats and content at workout stations in gyms; and intuitive, easy-to-navigate channel options while at the office.
Comcast won an†Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering†– the award specifically honors the work of the technology teams that develop the Xfinity†X1 Voice Remote†and the innovative software platform that powers it. And the company won the prestigious†Red Dot Design Award, which each year recognizes products from around the world that exemplify “outstanding design.”
