Comcast and NBCUniversal Drive Next-Gen Storytelling at Technology Hackathon

Participants in the Nov. 15-16 event will have access to content, products, and technology from Comcast and NBCUniversal’s cross-platform portfolios and technology partners, including Microsoft, thePlatform, and Beamly. Participants will compete for up to $25,000 in cash and prizes, including exclusive backstage tour of NBC’s hit show, The Voice.

Comcast and NBCUniversal will jointly present their next hackathon in Universal City, CA on Nov. 15-16. Themed "New Forms of Storytelling Driven by Technology," hackathon participants will be challenged to use content from Hollywood blockbusters such as the Fast & Furious franchise to NBC’s hit competition The Voice to the Universal Cable Production and Syfy series Battlestar Galactica and Telemundo's super series El Señor de los Cielos – in English and Spanish – to imagine and develop new ways viewers experience stories.

Over a 24-hour period, hackathon participants will work on innovative cross-platform solutions using content, products, and technology from NBC Entertainment, Telemundo, Fandango, Universal Cable Productions, Syfy, and Universal Pictures. NBCUniversal News Group, the challenger of the grand prize winning concept from the inaugural Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon, will also present a new query.

Participants will vie for up to $25,000 in cash and prizes, the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Comcast and NBCUniversal, and a VIP experience – including an exclusive behind the scenes tour – at a live production of The Voice. NBCUniversal film and TV executives will be on hand to advise and guide ideas.

This second Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon comes on the heels of the media and technology company’s inaugural competition in June 2014, which was held at the state-of-the-art NBCUniversal Technology Center in New Jersey and in 30 Rock's famed Studio 8H in New York. The successful event resulted in the hiring of developers and product concept incubation.

"We hope to build on the homerun successes from our inaugural hackathon," says Sanjay Macwan, Senior Vice President & CTO of NBCUniversal Media Labs. "Merging the rich assets of the entertainment and media industry with leading distribution platforms and APIs, our hackathon is uniquely positioned to enable creative developers, start-ups, VCs, and academic groups to use technology in transforming how we tell stories," said Macwan. "Not only are we opening our vault and challenging developers to disrupt traditional storytelling, but we also are giving participants the opportunity to meet with and receive guidance from top industry executives."

Participants in the Nov. 15-16 event will have access to content, products, and technology from NBCUniversal’s cross-platform portfolios and technology partners.

WIP, the premier developer-relations network has been tapped to invite developers to the Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon. The company will help secure participants by engaging their network of developers, particularly those who have a track record of creating products for digital media and/or television. For information on participating in the hackathon, go to http://nbcumedialabs.com/hackathon/.

In addition to Application Program Interfaces (API), hardware and software from the NBCUniversal properties listed above, Comcast NBCUniversal Hackathon teams will also have access to APIs from Unity, Apigee, Cinemacraft, Spredfast, Telescope, Microsoft, Beamly, Watchwith, thePlatform, Interlude, and Gracenote. APIs give programmers open access to data and services, so participants won’t have to write their applications from scratch.

Judges – including venture capitalists, tech influencers, and Comcast and NBCUniversal executives – will select winners in a variety of categories.  

Additional information can be found at http://nbcumedialabs.com/hackathon/.