Comcast is launching a new streaming service called Flex, which aggregates a variety of free content, along with paid subscriptions and will be available to Xfinity Internet customers next week for an extra $5 per month.
As consumers ditch traditional TV subscriptions and are faced with a growing number of ways to watch content, Comcast is hoping to appeal to its Internet-only segment by delivering a personalized platform where users can easily discover and access video and music content across platforms in one place.
Built upon Comcast’s X1 TV platform, Xfinity Flex aggregates streaming apps including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, and Showtime, enabling users to access their current subscriptions or sign up for the services directly within the platform without the need for separate billing. Free content is a major focus and the service includes more than 10,000 free online movies and TV shows including programming from ESPN3, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi TV, Cheddar, and YouTube, among others.
Users can also rent or purchase a movie digitally, and the service comes with a 4K HDR box and voice remote.
So while video is a major component of the service, the content available on Flex isn’t exclusive and can be found on other platform. The price tag, and potential appeal isn’t really about the content itself, but rather for a service that has a better and more simplified user experience for content search and discovery.
“We believe in a sea of apps there’s actually app fatigue amongst a certain segment of customers, and it’s really about aggregating the experience of all the different content within these apps,” said Matt Strauss, EVP of Xfinity Services at Comcast, on a call announcing the service.
Strauss said Flex is built upon the experience that Comcast has gained over the years through its X1 platform about understanding “how people want to watch and consume video, but also where we see the television going in the next few years.”
To that point, since Flex is only available to Xfinity internet subscribers, it also brings xFi features to the television screen. Strauss said Comcast sees the TV as becoming a digital dashboard for the home and a destination for activating home automation.
Like with X1, Flex allows users to see and control different connected devices on their home network via the television. If users have connected home security cameras through one of Comcast’s partners, camera content can be rendered on the Flex dashboard.
Music services like Pandora and iHeart Radio are also integrated on the platform.
Traditional video is still a big priority for Comcast, Strauss said, and the company will use Flex to offer customers the ability to instantly upgrade to an Xfinity TV package.
While Flex has a $5 per month price tag at launch, Strauss indicated that Comcast is looking at different ways of making the service available. In the future it might not be a monthly subscription, but perhaps included in different tiers of internet service, he noted.
Comcast has no ambitions to offer Flex outside of its service footprint, according to Strauss, though there are discussions about making it available to syndication partners like Canada’s Shaw and Rogers, which already license Comcast’s X1 platform.
Comcast’s aim with Flex is to deepen the cable giant’s relationship with its segment of internet-only customers, driving value to the company’s already strong broadband business by making it stickier and reducing churn.