Comcast Will Let Netflix Onto Its X1 Platform

Posted by msmash on Tuesday July 5, 2016 @04:40AM from the talk-of-the-town dept.

Kara Swisher, reporting for Recode:Cable giant Comcast will allow popular web video streaming service Netflix onto its X1 platform. (Editor's note: both the companies confirmed the move to the publication.) Sources said the deal to be on the cable giant's set-top box would be akin to the arrangement that Netflix has cut with smaller cable operators in the United States and bigger ones across the globe. Netflix also has deals with Apple, Roku and Google's Chromecast; its app is offered on these Internet TV services. It also is embedded in smart televisions.It's an enormous step, given the long and sometimes contentious history between the two companies against a backdrop of increased consumer usage of internet-delivered video. From the report:Back in 2012, for example, Peter Kafka reported that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was "once again accusing Comcast of violating 'net neutrality' principles by favoring its own web video service over those from Netflix, HBO and Hulu, when it comes to data usage."

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Re:Can't beat them, join them by tripleevenfall · 2016-07-05 05:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

They'll lose if they take Netflix on head-to-head. But they can treat them like HBO, take a cut off the top, and then later start capping bandwidth and charging overages, or making people buy premium service in order to use Netflix.