Comcast and CDOT Announce Fiber Lease Agreement

Denver –Comcast, one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communication products and services, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) today announced a first-of-its-kind fiber optic network lease agreement that will benefit Colorado residents as well as Comcast’s subscribers in mountain communities. The agreement lets Comcast lease two of CDOT’s existing single-mode fiber optic strands along the I-70 Corridor for 20 years, with rights to extend the agreement after the initial lease period.

The agreement will benefit Colorado residents by increasing capacity along I-70 between Golden and Vail, and allowing Comcast to launch advanced features and services, including more Spanish-language news in mountain communities. This is the first time CDOT has leased a portion of its network.

The leased fiber runs from approximately Golden to Vail and is part of CDOT’s existing network, which the agency uses for high speed communications to the CDOT business network.  This includes electronic sign message control, traffic camera surveillance for quicker incident response and verification, travel time detection, weather station monitoring and communications over digital trunk radio, all of which is fed to CDOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems website, www.cotrip.org for use by the public, media and other CDOT partners who provide road and weather information to the public.  Comcast is leasing “dark fiber,” or cable that CDOT was able to make available.

"Greater access to technology along the I-70 corridor will benefit all Coloradans," said State Representative Christine Scanlan (D-Summit Cove), who has advocated for expanded high-speed Internet for Colorado's high country and rural communities.  "Broader access to high-speed Internet will help boost Colorado's economy, particularly in our rural and mountain communities.  Expanded access to high-speed Internet will help our local businesses become more efficient, open the door to e-commerce, and allow folks who currently have to commute long distances the ability to work from home. This is an exciting partnership with no downside.  I'm thrilled we got this done."

As part of the lease agreement, Comcast will provide support for this portion of CDOT’s fiber network with maintenance services, including weekly inspection of the network’s “backbone,” replacement of damaged or missing fiber markers and clearing and cleaning debris from network pull boxes and other access points. The maintenance services provided by Comcast will free up much needed resources for CDOT.  The estimated value of this benefit to Colorado taxpayers over the next 20 years is $14.5 million.

“We think of this as a ‘big win’ for Colorado taxpayers and we’re excited about the beginning of a strong partnership with Comcast,” said CDOT Executive Director Russell George. “The agreement provides CDOT with a new revenue stream, and because Comcast also is providing professional engineering expertise and support, we’re able to reallocate some of our network maintenance resources to other important transportation projects, which are critical in these tough economic times.  This long-term public-private partnership will provide benefits to Comcast, CDOT and the citizens of Colorado.”

With the added bandwidth, Comcast will launch advanced video, Internet and digital voice services in Colorado mountain communities including Avon, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Keystone and Silverthorne. The company anticipates completing the roll out of the new services by spring of 2011.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership,” said Amy Lynch, Comcast Vice President of Field Operations for the Mountains. “The launch of our most current technologies in Summit and Eagle counties means that we’re able to provide the country’s best entertainment and communications services more ubiquitously across Colorado. We thank CDOT for giving us this opportunity and are grateful for the collaboration.”

Once complete, Vail, Avon, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Keystone and Silverthorne will receive upgrades including:

• Video On Demand: On Demand will give Comcast subscribers access to thousands of movies and shows that can be watched anytime. Most On Demand programs are free.

• New interactive on-screen guide: All Comcast digital video subscribers will be upgraded to a new interactive on-screen guide including features such as a “Watch in HD” button, DVR folders for organizing recorded programs and search functionality allowing customers to search programs by title, actor or keyword.

• MyDVR Manager: MyDVR Manager is an online application that lets Comcast DVR and Internet subscribers schedule DVR recordings from Comcast.net.

• AnyRoom DVR: AnyRoom DVR allows customers to view their recorded content on up to three set-top boxes.

• Digital Economy Video: Comcast’s “Digital Economy Video,” a new service tier, provides subscribers with 50 popular channels.

• Family Tier: Basic Tier video customers can subscribe to Comcast’s “Family Tier” to add channels such as Disney Channel, Sprout, Nickelodeon, Teen Nick, HGTV, DIY and National Geographic.

• More high definition (HD) choices: Comcast will increase the amount of high-definition programming available to mountain subscribers to more than 100 HD channels.

• Comcast Digital Voice: For the first time, Comcast subscribers in Summit and Eagle counties will have access to Comcast Digital Voice, the company’s home phone service. Comcast Digital Voice includes 12 popular calling features, such as Caller ID and Call Waiting.

About Comcast Corporation

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communication products and services.  With 22.9 million video customers, 16.7 million high-speed Internet customers, and 8.4 million Comcast Digital Voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, 11 regional sports networks operated by Comcast Sports Group and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast's Internet businesses, including Comcast.net (www.comcast.net).  Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, which owns two professional sports teams, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, and a large, multipurpose arena in Philadelphia, the Wells Fargo Center, and, through Global Spectrum, manages other facilities for sporting events, concerts and other events.