Comcast’s California region has hooked up with the U.S. Small Business Administration to offer small- and medium-size business information and resources via its video-on-demand platform.
The combined effort, which is known as Comcast Connecting Businesses, will launch on May 23 and is part of National Small Business Week, which runs May 23-29.
“Putting Comcast Connecting Businesseson demand is another way Comcast is using technology to make a positive difference,” said Mark O’Leary, vice president of business services for Comcast California. “Comcast is uniquely qualified to offer this type of local video-on-demand programming, and we are using our advanced fiber network to support businesses in our community, especially during these difficult economic times.”
Under the Comcast Connecting Businesses initiative, Comcast will film the workshops and seminars that the SBA conducts in its San Francisco district office. These videos will incorporate interviews with the District Director, highlight forms required to start a business in the United States and feature interviews with local business owners.
Seminar topics include: “How to Start a Business,” “How to Obtain a Business License,” “How to Become a Government-Certified Business,” “Basics of Marketing Your Business” and “Financing Your Business 101.”
Comcast will add new video vignettes monthly, and Comcast digital cable customers in California will be able to view the video courses any time of the day or night at no additional cost.
Comcast subscribers will also be able to see videos and sessions from the recent 2010 Governor’s Conference on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, which was held in Oakland, Calif. Comcast said it partnered with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and California Small Business Centers to make some of the segments available in on-demand mode.
“We are excited to be partnering with Comcast to be able to bring the vast resources of the U.S. Small Business Administration directly to the home or offices of business owners,” said Mark Quinn, district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration. “By offering this unique service with Comcast, we’re able to utilize new technology so that entrepreneurs can watch these sessions at their convenience and spend the rest of their time developing their businesses.”
In Comcast’s first-quarter earnings report last month, the nation’s largest cable operator said business services revenue increased by 49 percent, and that it would turn its attention to the medium-size business market, cellular backhaul and metro Ethernet going forward.
