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On Thursday Comcast will launch its own subscription-based streaming video service, Xfinity Streampix. The name alone shows just how badly the cable provider wants to cut into Netflix’s total dominance of the streaming video market, and their service does offer some key advantages such as the potential to offer new shows as they air (though this may remain On Demand’s forte) and bundling options with other Comcast services. The introduction of Streampix also means we will be getting one more option for consuming media on our Android devices. Streampix is coming to the existing Xfinity TV app and it sounds like the plan is to eventually launch a standalone option as well. There is no exact date for Android support, but it is promised within the year.
[via Comcast]
Comcast is evil and i’ll be damned if i send them any more money than i have to. only Verizon is more evil!
Competition = good.
Exclusivity = bad.
Companies love exclusivity. I am wary…
I’ve been thinking the same thing for a while. Every time I see one of these pop up it just makes me wonder what show I’ll be missing out on. The prices are already so low compared to cable that I’m not really sure what competition accomplishes in this case.
Or say, for example, what if Comcast (somehow) becomes the exclusive streaming license holder for say… House. Well nuts to me if I have Netflix for that purpose.
Oh but it gets better. Say Comcast exclusively gets House, but let’s say Netflix becomes the exclusive streaming license holder for say… Game of Thrones. Well if I have Streampix, then nuts to me.
In that case, if I wanted both House and Game of Thrones, I’d have to sign up for 2 streaming net services. And that’s on top of the internet service required to stream it all.
Well Comcast also now owns NBC Universal. Let’s see how long it takes for 30 Rock, and every other NBC show to be pulled from Netflix.
Very wary…
evil is when the streaming app was exclusive to ipad..
That too.
unless they have a huge amount of content, why bother.
If its 8 bucks a month I’d get it. As long as you don’t have to have comcast already as your cable provider. having netflix, hulu, and this is still cheaper than most cable. Ideally I would have hulu netflix and showtime and hbo streaming only. But hbo on xbox requires you to have a cable subscription.
Oh yay. Introduce another streaming video product and keep you crap download cap of 250 gigs… Smdh.
Unless they can match the convenience, value and overall experience of Netflix, they’ll fail right out of the gate. Netflix grew into what they are mainly because of the value they offer the average guy. Now compare that to cable companies like Comcast who are used to squeezing every last drop and then some out of their customers. Somehow I just don’t see the word ‘value’ being applicable any where in their overall strategy.
And while Netflix’s streaming service may not offer the latest and greatest, it still is an incredible bang for the buck. Coupled with their dvd service (which together is still a great value) they are an almost unbeatable match (at least for the time being).
i dont think comcast is going after netflix or hulu. you have to have some form of their service to receive it. its more of a reason to have comcast than say time warner. (i would say fios, but verizon and cable companies made a pact last year.)
If they can offer more content than Netflix or more older content, it will be a hit. I’ve been on Netflix recently and at least 3 movies I wanted to see were….DVD Only…
THAT is one of Netflix’s biggest cons…everything you wanna see isnt available for streaming.
Yeah they got movie I never even freakin heard of! And don’t forget the Disney rip-offs! Chop Kick Panda??? Seriously??
Apparently, you have to already be a Comcast subscriber to use this. That’s not what I’d call a Netflix competitor. It’s just value added for Comcast customers. They’re failing in the same way HBO is. I’m not hooking back up to a cable provider, no matter how much they whine.
Oh good another way to make my ridiculous bill even more ridiculous. If it ain’t a free add-on I don’t want it.
Coming up with the Streampix would have been a wonderful idea if they had it available to all their customers. This is the reason I have the Blockbuster@home pass through DISH. Not only has Netflix raised their prices but also any other streaming service doesn’t seem to give you much. Not only is the Blockbuster@home service available to all their customers, it is free for 3 months. After the three months I pay only $10 a month and I get DVD’s, streaming, and so much more. A co-worker at DISH even told me I could now use the streaming on my iPad. This will be awesome when I am traveling. The Streampix is a great price for streaming only, but with it not available to all their customers, I don’t think it will be a big hit.
Well….seems like the Comcast service just became more attractive.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/once-film-focused-netflix-transitions-174008412.html