On Tuesday, Comcast announced Xfinity Streampix, a new subscription video service for computers and mobile devices offering additional movies and full seasons of television shows. Streampix will launch this week, included free with some TV/internet and TV/internet/voice bundles, or $5/month for current Comcast TV customers.
Think about it like a mini-Hulu Plus, only trading off Fox shows for more kids' TV. Comcast's programming partners at launch include ABC/Disney, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Cookie Jar. The service will initially be available for PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone, with support for Xbox 360 and Android devices to come.
But wait; doesn't Comcast already offer apps for digital video? Actually, they have two: There's Xfinity TV and Xfinity mobile, which offers on-demand shows for PCs, game consoles, tablets and smartphones, and AnyPlay, which lets customers stream live TV to multiple devices on their home networks.
Streampix is built to complement those two services, as well as live and on-demand video through the cable box. You can't take AnyPlay with you outside the home, and while Xfinity TV has a big on-demand catalog, it's generally limited to the last few episodes of current TV shows. Unless you already subscribe to a premium movie channel, the free movies available for on-demand often aren't very compelling.
This is why I call it a "mini-Hulu Plus"; it's effectively premium band for Comcast's current on-demand programming, coupled with cross-platform digital distribution.
It's different in the following ways from Verizon forthcoming video subscription play with Redbox:
- Streampix is part of a package, while Verizon's service will be standalone and over-the-top. This means cord-cutters and other non-Verizon customers can buy in; you can't do that with Streampix. On the other hand, if you have Comcast's Triple Play video/internet/voice package, or video plus the upper-tier Blast internet packages, you get Streampix for free.
- Verizon will offer digital streaming, downloads and discs (through Redbox); Comcast is streaming-only.
- We don't know how much Verizon's service will cost or when it will launch.
The big question is whether Comcast customers might be tempted to ditch digital-only subscriptions from Hulu Plus, Netflix or Amazon in favor of a streaming video catalog that's cheap or free.
On its own, probably not. Streampix's catalog doesn't offer as much television seasons as Hulu Plus or as many top movies as Netflix. Digital video customers are proving to opt for both-and as often as they do either-or, especially if they can get the service for free.
The problem is that Streampix isn't coming on its own; it's coming on the back of Xfinity TV's on-demand catalog, HBO GO, ESPN on Xbox and more. Cable companies and networks are coming down hard on streaming video. Even as they're offering their own brands, apps and experiences, they're building off each other and mutually preserving the others' positions. The effects just snowball.
Taken together, the amount of online video you can get through your cable subscription rivals or beats what you can get from online-only solutions like Hulu or Netflix. And it's no longer just for recent shows; it's opening up the back catalog, too, where streaming-only so far has reigned supreme, really competing only with DVDs.
Forget voice, video and internet: when it comes to TV and movies, offering a mix of live, recent and back-catalog video is the real triple play.
