Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Category: Comcast

  • Comcast rolls out new AI home-security system for internet users

    Comcast rolls out new AI home-security system for internet users

    Comcast is launching a new AI-fueled home-security platform, building on its suite of internet-related services for broadband customers as it looks to bulk up that side of its business,

    While it’s not the company’s first foray into home security technology, the newest offering combines cybersecurity, parental controls, cameras, and sensors for streamlined protection over its Wi-Fi network. It comes at a slightly higher monthly price than its previous comparable iteration.

    The move represents the Philadelphia-based telecom giant’s latest effort to diversify its services amid a steady erosion of cable subscribers and a leveling-off of broadband customers.

    The platform, Xfinity Shield, consists of cybersecurity and protection features that are available to existing Wi-Fi customers at no additional charge, as well as a premium tier of AI-powered tools that cost $15 per month.

    “It is a combination of things that we’ve had and brand new innovations,” Fraser Stirling, Comcast’s global chief product officer, said in a recent interview. He added that platform creators tried to answer the question: “How do you make these complicated things simple for people?”

    Fraser Stirling, Comcast’s global chief product officer, gives a presentation in April.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    On customers’ Xfinity app, they can protect themselves from online threats, limit their children’s screen time, and detect movement in their home while they’re away. Users can customize their settings and notifications for different times, including at night and when they’re away.

    Starting Tuesday, existing Wi-Fi customers with advanced Gateway routers can use those tools, though they have to opt in to the Wi-Fi Motion monitoring. The feature detects changes in the radio frequency signals between the Gateway and Wi-Fi-connected devices in the home, without recording video, taking photos, or identifying people, according to Comcast executives.

    Wi-Fi customers who want more features can pay $15 a month for a package that includes an indoor camera, door and window sensors, video storage, and the ability to call for emergency help at the tap of a button. Called Xfinity Shield Select, this service can work with a range of compatible hardware including outdoor cameras and smart locks.

    The Xfinity Shield services are being rolled out as Comcast changes its company structure and responds to evolving consumer demands.

    In June, Comcast executives announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies by spinning off the NBCUniversal media group. Comcast will continue to provide consumer and business services, with a renewed focus on streaming and mobile.

    In recent months, Comcast has expanded its Xfinity Mobile services in an attempt to offset the departure of cable and internet subscribers.

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    The number of broadband customers has plateaued in recent years, while the number of traditional cable TV subscribers has fallen off precipitously. Comcast reported about 10.7 million cable customers in its second-quarter earnings report, down from 11.3 million at the end of last year and 18.2 million in 2021.

    Xfinity Mobile, meanwhile, has seen growth, with about 900,000 new wireless lines being added in the first half of this year, according to earnings reports. As of June, there were about 10.2 million Xfinity Mobile lines, with each customer having two lines on average. Many of these connections are part of a free-line-for-a-year promotion, which will end for some customers later this year.

    Can a longtime cable giant become a competitive cell phone carrier? Comcast is betting on it.

    Only new or existing broadband customers can sign up for mobile, which costs $30 or $45 a month depending on the plan. Wireless uptake represents a fraction of the company’s 28 million home internet subscribers, and brought in about $5 billion last year, out of $71 billion total internet and cable revenue.

    Comcast executives are hoping that some internet subscribers are willing to pay for Xfinity Shield Select.

    “The more of these products you take from us, the better the experience is,” Stirling said.

    Xfinity’s older home-security system and products remain available for existing customers, but the $10-a-month Smart Home indoor-monitoring package is no longer offered to new customers. Current Smart Home customers can keep their plan or switch to Xfinity Shield Select for the newer features. The more traditional home-security system, which includes 24/7 professional monitoring, costs $55 a month and will remain available for new and existing customers.

  • Ex-Comcast employee was hit in the face with a pie and tied to a chair for low sales, lawsuit says

    Ex-Comcast employee was hit in the face with a pie and tied to a chair for low sales, lawsuit says

    Sales low? You might get a pie to the face.

    That’s what a former Comcast retail employee says would happen, according to a new lawsuit filed against the Philadelphia-headquartered company.

    David Figueroa, a former employee at a retail location in Connecticut, alleges a store manager subjected workers to hazing and assault, forcing him to quit within a month of employment. That treatment included a monthly ritual where an employee was tied to a chair and smashed in the face with a cream pie. The antics were also videotaped.

    Comcast, the $125 billion-a-year media and communications giant, operates hundreds of retail stores nationwide. The stores act as point-of-sales locations for Xfinity products, including internet and TV products. They also offer equipment swaps and general customer support.

    “The Company has zero tolerance for harassment, humiliation, or any behavior that compromises a respectful and safe workplace,” Comcast spokesperson John Demming said in a statement. “This matter is in litigation so we will not comment on the specific allegations, other than to say that we disagree with the claims in the complaint and its characterization of the alleged events, and intend to fully respond through the legal process.”

    According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Figueroa against Comcast, he was hired as a retail sales consultant in February at a retail location in Plainville, Conn., about 15 minutes outside of Hartford.

    But Figueroa said he was quickly rattled by his direct supervisor, the store’s manager, for her treatment of the staff. That store manager is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Demming declined to comment on the manager’s current employment status, citing personnel matters.

    The lawsuit says the store’s manager tracked employee sales metrics on a whiteboard in the back office that all employees could see. In the corner of that whiteboard, employees’ names were correlated to an emoji. The employee with the lowest monthly sales was listed next to an upset-looking emoji with a pie on its face, according to photos included in court documents.

    “[The chart] identified the employees who either had been recently assaulted or were scheduled to be assaulted in this way,” the lawsuit says.

    On Feb. 25, Figueroa witnessed a coworker being tied to the chair and assaulted in the face with a pie. The store manager “ordered, was present for, and videotaped this assault, as did the Plaintiff and other coworkers,” the lawsuit says. The coworker who struck the tied-up employee “had better sales results” and was ordered “to assault his poorer performing co-worker, in front of his peers,” the suit says.

    Figueroa’s coworkers showed him a video of another pieing incident where the assistant sales manager was hit in the face with a pie because of a poor survey score from a customer, according to the lawsuit.

    He attempted to report the incident to the store’s regional manager, who instructed Figueroa to send a text message documenting his concerns. According to the lawsuit, the regional manager “never responded” to Figueroa’s complaints about the store’s “hostile and violent work environment,” leading to his resignation.

    The Plainville retail location could not be reached for comment.

    Figueroa “suffered a pervasive and ongoing fear of being subjected to management-condoned assaults and public humiliation in the workplace,” the lawsuit says. Now, he’s suing Comcast for damages, including past and future financial, emotional, and reputational harm caused by the incident, along with court fees.

    It’s not the first time Comcast has found itself in a lawsuit involving a former employee. As reported on by The Inquirer, several past lawsuits waged by former employees have touched on hostile work environments at different Comcast stores, facilities, and call centers.

    The company reported lower profits last week, citing drops in domestic residential broadband customers in the second quarter.

  • Comcast plans no big change for its 15,000 Philly workers as company splits in two

    Comcast plans no big change for its 15,000 Philly workers as company splits in two

    Comcast, the $125 billion-a-year media and communications giant based in Philadelphia, is planning to split into two publicly traded companies, one based on the NBCUniversal media group, the other focused on broadband and wireless services.

    Comcast’s consumer and business services and NBCUniversal media now face “distinct” opportunities that are best pursued separately, Brian L. Roberts, chief executive since 2002, told investors in a conference call.

    Shares of Comcast, which had recently been trading near a 10-year low, jumped as much as 17% on the news, before closing at $24.22, a 4.5% gain for the day but well below the stock’s highs earlier this year.

    The split reverses major Comcast media acquisitions.

    “We previously believed that scale and diversification benefits warranted operating these businesses as one company; we’ve now simply changed our mind about that,” said Michael Cavanagh, the former chief financial officer of both Comcast and JPMorgan Chase & Co., who became Comcast’s co-CEO last fall.

    “We’ve now concluded that future success for each of our businesses will depend on focus, speed, and strategic flexibility that this separation will unlock,” said Cavanagh, who will head NBCUniversal, based at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York, after the split.

    Comcast will retain the consumer and business services that employ the majority of the company’s 180,000 workers, including most of its 15,000 Philadelphia-area staff and managers.

    Michael Angelakis when he was CFO of Comcast in 2009. He is returning, this time as CEO, as the company divests NBCUniversal and Sky. Ed Hille / Staff Photographer

    Comcast’s CEO after the split will be Michael Angelakis, a Gladwyne resident, who was Comcast’s chief financial officer from 2007 to 2015 and has since headed tech investment firm Atairos while also advising Comcast.

    Comcast’s acquistion of NBCUniversal, announced in 2011 and financially structured by Angelakis, was “a brilliant success financially” since Comcast got a bargain price as it was the first multibillion-dollar acquisition after the Great Recession, telecommunications analyst Craig Moffett told clients in a report Monday.

    But it didn’t make much sense strategically, Moffett added. While original media and theme parks did little to boost cable sales, the combination turned investors off, depressing the share price.

    Angelakis’ return to Comcast is “the best part” of the “wonderful, overdue” breakup decision, Moffett said. He noted that the two successor companies were themselves unlikely to become takeover targets in the near future as it would endanger the tax-free structure of the spin-off and likely require long, expensive work to persuade national and state regulators.

    Angelakis told investors on the call: “This place was my home for many years. It’s great to be here. It feels familiar and exciting at the same time.”

    The planned move comes after Comcast announced in November 2024 that it was spinning off cable networks such as USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as CNBC and MSNBC into a new company, Versant. Movie ticketing platform Fandango and the Rotten Tomatoes movie rating site were also included. Versant went public in January at around $45 a share; it has lately traded around $36.

    Like other cable companies, Comcast in recent years has shifted its business emphasis away from traditional cable toward streaming and other sources of revenue, such as its movie studio, theme parks and home wireless and internet services.

    Media and entertainment company NBCUniversal includes a theme parks division, Universal film and television studios, NBC and Telemundo networks, Peacock, and Bravo. Its portfolio will now include European media business Sky.

    Comcast will continue providing internet and phone services to residential and business customers.

    Once the transaction is complete, Comcast shareholders will own shares in both Comcast and NBCUniversal. The separation is expected to be completed in about a year. It still needs final approval from Comcast’s board and is subject to regulatory approvals.

    Comcast expects to keep a stake of up to 19.9% ownership position in NBCUniversal for up to one year after the spinoff is complete.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.