Comcast Joins Popcorn War Against Netflix

Comcast is the latest to step into the game of providing streaming content. But there are doubts that it can beat Netflix.

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Who will dominate America’s digital TV watching future? It’s anyone’s guess, but Comcast is the latest to try to butter up popcorn-eating movie watchers with a new service that launches this week at a lower monthly charge than Netflix.

The service will be called Xfinity Streampix, and it will be available to more than 20 million Comcast subscribers, featuring programs from NBC Universal, which it owns, as well as material secured through licensing agreements with Disney-ABC Television Group (not including theatrical movies), Sony Pictures and Warner Bros., reports Time. It will be available on iOS and Android-run devices, and game consoles like the Xbox 360.

Why should this worry Netflix? Perhaps because of the price: the streaming service will be free to Comcast customers who get the internet-phone-cable packages and it will cost $4.99 per month for those who have more basic plans. Currently, Netflix is charging $7.99 per month for its streaming-only plan.

But, Netflix, which bounced back in the fourth quarter after an unpopular price hike, reportedly spends as much as $1 billion a year on content. Although the cable giant says it plans to make deals for more content in the future, its current repertoire is pretty limited.

And for that reason, paying nearly $5 is no bargain, points out ZDNet.com:

If the point of Streampix is to prevent cable cutters from defecting to Netflix, Hulu Plus et al., a bundled service like Streampix almost certainly isn’t going to do it.

Other competitors that have moved into Netflix’s space include Apple, which offers content through its iTunes store, Amazon which does so through Prime, and Verizon, which earlier this month partnered up with Redbox on a streaming offering.