Comcast jumping on the IPTV bandwagon?

Sounds a little silly at first since we're talking about a cable company, but an announcement today has me seeing the future. Comcast just set up a new Internet division, coupled with the fact that Comcast will now be using Cisco CRS-1 routers for their broadband backbone. That's pretty potent equipment, so maybe this cable gone broadband (with digital phone services) company plans to slowly abandon traditional cable television for IPTV.

It certainly makes sense. Comcast started out ahead of the curve as a pioneer of cable television. The then-family owned business gobbled up other cable operators along the way. That got them to the number one cable provider spot in the nation, but it's no longer enough to stay there. Television over broadband offers much more choice, more channels and of course, more opportunity for revenue.

Let's face it: Comcast isn't souping up their broadband network just to sell you a pipe for the content that you want. Surely Comcast has is planning to put plenty of revenue-generating programs in that pipe too. Broadband is everywhere these days; the future dollars will be coming from content, something that Comcast will be happy to sell you.