Comcast today announced that Skype on Xfinity online satellite TV, a fresh widescreen HD video calling experience, is currently for sale in Boston and Seattle since the company begins its nationwide rollout with the service. Before the end of the week, the service may also be for sale in the next urban centers: Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Chicago, Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Indianapolis, Miami and Pittsburgh. With Skype on Xfinity, clients are capable of making and receive video calls from their TV in HD image quality, along with send and receive messages via Skype as you’re watching cable online at the same time.
“We’re continuing to build innovative communication services like Skype on Xfinity that will permit our customers to interact in new ways using the people they are concerned about the most,” said Tony Werner, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Comcast Cable. “Through our close collaboration with Skype, we dedicated to delivering a new product which brings family and friends together through a high-quality video calling experience for the first time.”
Skype on Xfinity online satellite television will be the latest example inside a line of innovations through which Comcast is bringing personalized services to its customers. Through Skype on Xfinity, customers can:
Make Skype-to-Skype audio and video calls or send instant messages via Skype over a TV while watch cable online with their favorite TV show simultaneously, and accept incoming Skype calls throughout a TV show by using Caller identification.
Import Skype friends into a global address book which may also contain Facebook, Outlook, Gmail and smartphone contacts so that you can find which of one’s friends already use Skype to see when contacts are on the internet and open to talk.
Have the ability to communicate with the billions of connected Skype users world wide.
“Through our collaboration with Comcast, we are delivering a really compelling HD calling experience to consumers, and demonstrating Skype’s continued leadership in video communications,” said Bob Rosin, Head of economic Development for Skype. “Our partnership brings video calling to the heart of the house – the family room – where it enables individuals to share life’s experiences inside a whole new way.”
Cathy Avgiris, Executive Vice President and Gm of Communications and Data Services for Comcast Cable, said “TV is rapidly evolving being a social experience, and Skype on Xfinity online tv is bringing relatives and buddies together to talk about life’s moments through the use of the biggest screen inside their homes. Skype on Xfinity is simple to set up and straightforward to use so that you can always seem like you’re there with friends and loved ones, even when physically you’re miles apart.”
To utilize Skype on Xfinity online satellite TV, customers will require Xfinity Internet service, an HDMI-capable Comcast cable set-top box along with a Skype account. To start out a Skype session through their TV, customers simply choose an available contact from other address book and select enter. Skype on Xfinity is going to be sent to the Comcast customer’s HDTV via an all-in-one kit which includes an adaptor box, a high-quality video camera, plus a specially engineered handheld remote control that permits customers to instant message with more than one friends on Skype as well as control the volume of the television. For Skype-to-Skype calls or instant messages, the other calling party does not need any special equipment beyond need to make use of Skype; they just need to be logged within their Skype account.