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Tiger Woods will compete in the 2010 Masters tournament next month, returning to golf from his five-month hiatus.

If you want to see him play, you’ll be able to do so in a new way: Comcast will stream live video of the Masters in addition to its traditional cable broadcast of the event, and both will be available in 3D.

You’ll need a 3D-enabled television or computer to experience it, but if you’ve got the hardware, tune on April 7 – 11 to see Tiger and the other golfers show off their skills. Comcast plans to stream about two hours of live footage each day. While the 3D web stream will be powered by Comcast, the official Masters website will host it.

It’s not clear whether or not the 3D streams will be limited to Comcast customers.

Tiger’s return to golf has been anticipated ever since his multiple extramarital affairs went public and dominated the news and Twitter’s trending topics for days.

Woods has already proven that he can draw a lot of viewers to a live stream — his post-affair press conference attracted 683,000 viewers on Ustream. We’ll see in a few weeks if his golfing prowess — and the intense consumer appeal of 3D — can pull in big numbers, too.

[img credit: Keith Allison]

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: 3D, comcast, Golf, live video, masters, masters-2010, sports, streaming video, tiger woods, video

Very cagey way to play it Comcast. While DirecTV, ESPN and Discovery were first to say they would have 3DTV broadcasts back at CES, the cable company will actually be the first to deliver it, starting with the Masters Tournament (but why not the 3D broadcast of the Final Four?) April 7-11. That’s right, the first “live next-generation 3D broadcast of a major sporting event on TV, the first live simulcast of a next-gen 3D event online, and the industry’s first live multi-camera next-gen 3D production” will be on cable (& internet), not satellite or telco. Again, that’s right, if you don’t have a 3D television set up yet, it will also be streamed at Masters.com (no word whether this is a Comcast only or if it will be open to all) for all those with a 3D setup on their PC. We’ll temper our expectations until we see what kind of quality is able to squeeze through Comcast’s fiber backbone and down our neighborhood coax wires, but this should certainly blow away the anaglyph stuff currently offered on VOD. Of course, the old school HD streams will still be broadcast on ESPN and CBS, but if Tiger really does make his comeback at Augusta this should give us a better view of the course (and any residual damage from that “car accident”) than ever before.

[Thanks, Simon]

Comcast will beat DirecTV to the punch by broadcasting the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t say we didn’t warn you. Looks like the kids at Comcast have to answer some questions over at the Justice Department — and the FCC — before they get their hands on NBC. Both agencies have pledged to “examine the transaction closely,” says AP, being ever-vigilant as they are to protect consumers and competition in this free market society of ours. The review could last upwards of a year, but if that means that 2011 could see the debut of NBC-Universal’s “Comcastic!” theme parks, it will all have been worth it.

NBC-Comcast deal comes under Justice Department, FCC scrutiny originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This TiVo Premiere screenshot with a large Comcast On Demand logo on it certainly set a few hearts aflutter yesterday when it was released from the company, but our dreams have turned into bitter, bitter ashes: TiVo tells us this screenshot is actually just a mockup and not indicative of any actual partnership. And double-oops: that other interesting screenshot with “Friends Recommend” on the Browse screen is also a mockup, meaning our hopes for some social-media integration have also been dashed, at least for now. Oh well. Let’s hope our forthcoming Premiere review units can somehow turn these frowns upside-down.

Continue reading Oops: TiVo Premiere won’t have Comcast On Demand

Oops: TiVo Premiere won’t have Comcast On Demand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, Jeff Zucker of NBC was hanging out his new best friend Brian Roberts from Comcast today, talking up the proposed acquisition in front of Congress. A certain Rep. Rick Boucher asked “what about Boxee?” and things got a little interesting. Jeff says that Boxee was “illegally taking the content that was on Hulu,” as opposed to the “many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with.” We’re not exactly sure which deals Zucker is referring to, but Boxee’s Avner Ronen takes issue with the first point:

I’d like to set the record straight regarding Boxee’s access to Hulu. Boxee uses a web browser to access Hulu’s content – just like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Boxee users click on a link to Hulu’s website and the video within that page plays. We don’t “take” the video. We don’t copy it. We don’t put ads on top of it. The video and the ads play like they do on other browsers or on Hulu Desktop. And it certainly is legal to do so.

He also takes issue with some of Zucker’s other points, pointing out that Hulu dropped Boxee based on a request from NBC, while Zucker calls it a decision by “Hulu management,” and he also points out that Boxee hasn’t found NBC as open to negotiations as Zucker claims to be, but will be giving it another shot — perhaps with some of that subscription fee cash mixed in somewhere to sweeten the deal? It’s worth watching the short clip on C-Span and reading the entire Boxee rebuttal, even if it won’t make you any less angry.

NBC’s Jeff Zucker talks about Boxee with congress, Boxee talks about The Facts with Jeff Zucker originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently worried its On Demand Online project would suffer the shame of a silly name all by its lonely, Comcast has rebranded its cable TV, internet and phone services as Xfinity TV, Xfinity Internet and Xfinity Voice. Other than the name not much is changing (@ComcastCares will still be doing its thing on Twitter), although the rollout of the new branding (starting next week, the first 11 markets include Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Hartford, Augusta, Chattanooga, parts of the Bay Area and San Francisco) should sync up with 50mbps or high speeds becoming available. Of course, if those slick flame colored letter started showing up on TV repair guy trucks at the same time as a truly revolutionary new DVR software package instead of the slightly spruced up version we’ll be getting over the next few months, then they could call it anything they want to.

Comcast smears the XFINITY brand across all its services originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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