Comcast titan getting playful

LAS VEGAS - Brian Roberts gone wild?

The button-down corporate honcho and chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. will loosen his tie when he gives his keynote speech here today at the Consumer Electronics Show.

It will be the "Hollywoodization of Brian Roberts," he said in an interview. "We are going to have a little fun. This is not a Wall Street speech. I'm not trying to sell stock."

Ryan Seacrest, host of

American Idol

, and stars from

Flight of the Conchords

, a hit HBO show, will appear on stage with Roberts.

Upward of 5,000 people are expected to hear Roberts, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Sands Expo & Convention Center/The Venetian. Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will hold a panel discussion immediately afterward - across town in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Comcast and Martin's FCC, which regulates parts of the cable business, have been battling in recent months over a number of regulatory issues.

In keeping with tradition, Roberts will make several new-product announcements in the hour-long keynoter, and will give a broad take on the company's strategy. He will say that Comcast is now the nation's fourth-largest phone company, with 4.1 million voice customers, after launching the phone service three years ago. The three larger phone companies are AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc.

One announcement will be Comcast's plan to expand to 1,000 its high-definition programming of music videos, television shows or movies by the end of 2008, up from the current 300 HD offerings.

"Our vision is to provide our customers with the largest home-video library ever - more HD, more sports, more movies, kids programs and network TV than any other video provider," Roberts said in a statement.

Company officials say creating this huge video library, called Project Infinity, won't require a big new investment in the company's cable network. Comcast will offer the 1,000 HD shows by adding library servers around the country.

Satellite companies have been heavily promoting their high-definition offerings, which have given them a competitive advantage, Wall Street analysts say.

Verizon Communications and AT&T also have been rolling out new video services, taking customers from Comcast and other cable companies.

New competition and the dispute with Martin have clobbered Comcast's stock, which has declined more than 30 percent in the last year. Shares closed yesterday at $17.00, up 16 cents in Nasdaq trading.

Roberts also will unveil Fancast.com, a public and interactive Web site to help people manage television- and movie-viewing. It acts something like an online TV and movie guide for anyone in the United States. People can watch video on the Web site, too.

One unique feature of Fancast.com is the Six Degrees function, which dynamically identifies relationships among different actors and actresses, producers and directors, and TV shows and movies. After a viewer inputs an actor's or actress' name, Six Degrees assembles the relationships from a database of 10 million Web pages of Hollywood information.

Fancast was developed in Comcast's Philadelphia offices, and the company is applying for a patent on it.