Comcast wants to roll out an Uber-inspired app to help alleviate the frustrations of customers stuck waiting at home for the cable guy.
CEO Brian Roberts teased an app during an interview with USA Today that would allow customers to make appointments and see the location of Comcast technician's vehicles. He lauded taxi and car service app Uber as "fantastic."
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Comcast is working to boost its profile and build goodwill ahead of regulatory hearings that represent a serious barrier for its acquisition of Time Warner Cable.
The interview comes two weeks after Comcast said it would indefinitely extend a program that brought affordable Internet access to low-income households, an extension of terms that were part of Comcast's last big merger — the acquisition of NBC Universal.
Roberts and Comcast are in the midst of a sensitive period. The February announcement that the cable and broadband giant had come to an agreement to acquire rival Time Warner Cable will soon come before regulators, some of whom have already quested whether the combination of two industry leaders with questionable customer service records would be in the best interest of consumers.
If approved, the merger would combine the two largest pay-TV operators into a single entity with about 30% of the U.S. cable industry and around 40% of the high-speed Internet market.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee announced earlier in March that it would hold a hearing on the merger on April 2. Florida and other states are also reviewing the deal.
The Federal Communication Commission and the U.S. Justice Department will also need to approve the deal.
In the USA Today interview, one of the most high-profile media appearances since the announcement of the merger, Roberts said the app could be available to customers sometime in 2015. Comcast spokespeople did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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