“Yay, Comcast customers can now watch Netflix!” read an acerbic statement released by the Consumer Video Choice Coalition “Now what’s wrong with unlocking the box and letting consumers watch the rest of the Internet as well?”
Advertisement
This is not the first time when Netflix had been incorporated into a traditional cable pay-tv provider’s boxes. Netflix has been interested in getting its streaming app onto cable set-top boxes for years but only lately have cable operators warmed to the idea. “We’ll provide more details at that time”. The deal will allow the cable company to stay competitive in the streaming world with companies like Verizon and Dish, both of which now offer apps for streaming-based video services like Hulu and Netflix.
It’s not pay TV versus streaming anymore; it’s pay TV and streaming. Netflix referred to one of Comcast’s practices as “extortion” less than two years, and now the two are in bed together.
They stated: “Set-top integration could be a positive catalyst for further US subscriber growth across older demographics, a key area where Netflix remains under-penetrated”. Netflix has 82 million US subscribers – about half of all USA households – so it’s a pretty safe assumption that millions of people are already subscribing to both Comcast and Netflix. It’s a win-win situation of sorts. Netflix’s strategy has had a few major components: First, it made watching Internet TV incredibly easy. With the deal in place, Netflix would contribute to Comcast’s earnings and, out of it, also take home a significant slice of the profits. Now the total subscription has reached to 81.5 million subscribers. Netflix has called out Comcast for unfair deals, which led to FCC investigations, and Comcast charged customers extra for online data usage as recently as January (essentially punishing frequent movie streamers, as that’s a big data-upping culprit). Neither company was willing to discuss financial terms of the deal.
Advertisement
It’s likely that Comcast, the nation’s largest cable-TV operator, will receive a cut of each new subscriber that signs up for Netflix’s service through the X1, according to The Associated Press. Netflix, which said it agreed to the deal to alleviate complaints about choppy videos congestion, later complained to the Senate about the arrangement.
