PHILADELPHIA—Comcast Business today announced that millions of bars, restaurants, hotels, and gyms now have access to the company’s X1 video platform. X1 for Business includes easier search and navigation, voice control, and a sports content companion called the X1 Sports App that includes team and players profiles, statistics, and real-time, game-specific data.
Last June, the company announced X1 for Hospitality, with plans to deploy the video platform in all 219 guestrooms in the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center. Now, X1 for Business is available to businesses across 100 percent of Comcast’s footprint and can be used for in-room, voice-controlled TV watching in hotels, real-time sports stats and content at workout stations in gyms, and more.
“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 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.
- On-Screen Guide: The on-screen guide and search functionality gives a view of the last nine channels, making accessing popular and most-watched content easier for employees.
- Sports Content: 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.”
