Comcast Stream is not about content. We can get more for less elsewhere. It’s about Comcast reinventing itself as an intermediary.
I agree with Furious Corp. CEO and founder Ashley Swartz’s observation that Stream exists to reinforce Comcast’s stake in broadband service provision. In the meantime, a recent Deutsche Bank report shows that losses from cord-cutting are being offset by higher Internet fees. In light of both these sources of insight, CNBC correspondent Michelle Castillo attributes Stream’s ripples in the subscription economy to Comcast’s deft leveraging of the hype around Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming – for the purpose of wringing cash out of pipes that are already much pricier for consumers than they were when Netflix first began raiding them.
This fascinates me as it relates to the evolution of our industry. I’m not sure it’s good for consumers, but more on that in a second.
In a nutshell, existing Xfinity Internet subscribers can purchase Comcast Stream for $15 per month and get on-demand access to a decent lineup of channels, including traditional networks and HBO, for smartphones, tablets and laptops. This is twice as much as Netflix for far less content. In some locations it’s actually cheaper to get Xfinity’s bundled Internet and TV service.
However, on its website Comcast says Stream is ideal for households in which, for example, Dad prefers watching live sports the old-school way – in the living room on the big screen tied to the cable box – while kids prefer to disappear into the privacy of their bedrooms and binge-watch episodes of their favorite TV series on their laptops. This makes sense. Why forfeit eyeballs and cash to Hulu in this scenario? Stream also comes with cloud-based DVR storage for catching episodes between their original air date and the tedious months before they show up elsewhere.
Stream’s drawbacks – the price tag, the channel lineup, the lack of access to live TV outside the home – prevent it from being perfect, but it’s not meant to be. Comcast is looking to rally its existing customer base with the shiny concept of a Netflix-like streaming service and by blurring the lines between this and, say, Xfinity on Demand or Xfinity Streampix.
In the meantime, the subscription economy takes note of a cable giant leveraging existing network relationships to cobble together a decent bundle of content and create new revenue in a conduit that, despite standalone price increases, is not as profitable or exclusive as they want it to be. In fact, Stream represents Comcast’s attempt to reinvent itself as something it used to be: the master of field and domain. I mean, they had to do something.