• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 2, 2009

Comcast's shop-by-remote function, in partnership with HSN, is expected to be available in more than 10 million homes early next year. Meanwhile, Comcast is moving ahead with plans to enable interactive-television capabilities in a full 18 million-home footprint.

Comcast said Wednesday it has begun a national rollout of HSN "Shop by Remote," which allows customers to purchase fragrances or jewelry seen on TV with a few remote-control clicks.

Comcast and HSN would not comment on their financial agreement -- whether the partnership is part of an overall carriage agreement; is there a revenue share for each purchase made; or some other arrangement.

On Comcast, the HSN service is propelled by a technology known as Enhanced Binary Interchange Format (EBIF). The mouthful can enable digital set-top boxes to offer an array of interactive television (iTV) functions. And its potential is becoming an increasing focus of the cable industry.

Comcast has 8 million EBIF-enabled homes in the field, and plans to install an EBIF user agent in all of its 18 million homes with digital cable.

Of the 18 million, 75% have boxes made by Motorola, the rest by Cisco. Homes with EBIF so far all have Motorola models.

Comcast has more EBIF-enabled homes than any other cable operator. There is some pressure on MSOs to move quickly in placing an EBIF user agent into as many of their boxes as possible.

This is because the six largest operators -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House -- have spent handsomely to fund Canoe Ventures. That enterprise is promising a platform where an advertiser can run an interactive ad nationally -- in millions of homes at once.

But "coast-to-coast" ads on all six cable systems simultaneously require EBIF-enabled boxes, Canoe has determined.

The MSOs are looking to Canoe to help grow their flagging ad sales businesses. Canoe executives would be ecstatic if Comcast allowed it to deliver ads to its 18 million homes, although that remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Comcast is turning to EBIF to jump-start sales on a local level. EBIF-enabled boxes propel "Request for Information" ads, which teams have begun selling in some markets. There, during a spot, an advertiser can prompt a viewer to click on an icon to receive a coupon or special promotion in the mail.

EBIF allows for more than interactive advertising, including caller ID on the screen. And it is driving a Comcast service tabbed "Remind-Record," where when watching a promo for an upcoming show a viewer can set a DVR to record it with a thumb.