USA: Comcast and Ebay Discuss

Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) and eBay Inc. (EBAY) are at an early stage of discussion to enable Comcast’s subscribers to buy products featured in television advertisements and pay via eBay’s PayPal payment service. We believe that this is an effort by the company to compensate for the loss sustained from over-the-top video segment.

As part of the collaboration agreement, viewers with a PayPal account will be able to buy a product being advertised on television, donate money to political campaign and non-profit organization. Additionally, they can also ask advertisers to text information to their phones regarding a product and can collect coupons through PayPal to shop in retail stores like Home Depot Inc. (HD).

Though innovative, this type of Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (:EBIF) is not new for Comcast subscribers. The company already has an application that supports HSN Inc’s (HSNI) Shop By Remote product and can run on any type of set top box.

PayPal has already signed a similar deal with Tivo Inc. (TIVO). Further, this deal with Comcast is an attempt by the online shopping giant to grab significant market share of the TV commerce business.