Comcast to trial DOCSIS 3.0, IPTV

Comcast announced plans to trial IPTV through the DOCSIS 3.0 standard earlier this week at the company's biennial investor conference. CTO Tony Werner said, "The technology should be available so we can deploy [DOCSIS 3.0] where and when we want to next year, if there are business cases to do it." During the company's recent Q1 earnings call CEO Brian Roberts also indicated just how bullish he was about DOCSIS 3.0: We plan to demonstrate DOCSIS 3.0 on stage at The Cable Show 2007 to show "where we're going as an industry" because it will "turbo-charge today's experience into a super broadband experience."

Comcast's planned converged-services trial will take place in a system that serves 50,000 homes, and will include an IP-video headend and DOCSIS 3.0 STBs, as well as the Slingbox from Sling Media, dual mode WiFi-cellular handsets and mobile phones capable of playing video.

For more on Comcast's IPTV trial:
- see this report from MultiChannel News