Mike Wuerthele
Movie streaming service Netflix will be available to Comcast subscribers with an X1 set-top box as soon as November 10, but won't be exempt from the 1TB data cap recently levied against a good portion of Comcast's internet customers.
Users of both services will be able to "seamlessly move between the Netflix app and their cable service" without changing inputs, according to a joint statement issued by both companies. Additionally, Comcast's voice search will work with Netflix, and streaming videos from Netflix will be displayed in conjunction with Comcast on-demand video offerings.
However, in the deal's frequently asked questions list, Comcast says that the Netflix videos are being streamed across the Internet, and are "subject to Xfinity Internet data usage policies."
Comcast data caps exist most of the company's serviced areas with little competition from Verizon or Google Fiber. Customers are allowed to exceed the cap in two months in a rolling year without additional fines.
HD video from Netflix will consume approximately 3 GB per hour of use. Comcast claims that its caps, assuming no other use of the Internet, will allow users to stream HD video for 10 hours a day without hitting the limit.
Comcast customers will not get a discount or any promotional rate on Netflix, nor vice-versa.
A firm launch date is not yet known. No terms of the deal have been announced.
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
Sponsored Content
11 Comments
Already available in SF, CA. Nicely implemented. Reduces the (admittedly small) friction to change between live/DVR and Netflix. I find myself watching it more already.
Yep, streamed all of the Stranger Things episodes over Halloween weekend, so it's been available for at least a week. Was pleasantly surprised to see it pop up as an available option right through X1. It was running a bit slow, at least in making the connection, but the video performance was great.
If you have a 4k netflix plan, will 4k titles show up in the X1 searches?
EDIT: you cannot
https://customer.xfinity.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/netflix-4k-on-x1
Now I wish Apple would buy Netflix after hearing that they won't participate in the TV app :(
Doesn't Netflix put their own servers into Comcast and others own Networks to speed up streaming, so it's really not going over the Internet? Still this whole 1TB CAP is B.S. nothing at all to do with Fairness and everything to do with trying to keep themselves from becoming a dumb pipe. 1TB really isn't that much. I've been over it a few times in a house with 2 people. It's all about getting money from you one way or another. If you're going to get your TV shows from someone else by streaming it from HULU or SlingTV or whoever, we're going to get a cut of the action as you go over your 1TB CAP. The faster speed you have, the faster you'll hit that CAP. The more people in your family watching Netflix and Hulu and playing Online gaming, etc the faster you'll hit that 1TB Cap. So now they're making people pay another $50 to get what they already had for years!!! What a joke.