After announcing an expanded collaboration between Comcast and Netflix, the cable operator is beginning to market the SVOD service in its bundles.
For example, in northeastern New Jersey and in Boston, Netflix pricing is bundled into a $119 Signature Triple Play offering that includes 219 channels and 400 Mbps downstream internet. (It is not being promoted in the $99-a-month Select Triple Play bundle.)
Multichannel News, which was first to note the debut of the Netflix bundles, reports that bundling and promotions vary by market.
As word of other upcoming Netflix promotions on Comcast begins to circulate, the cable operator posted a page to explain to its customers the new billing policy—and what they should do if they find themselves suddenly paying for Netflix twice. Comcast is also telling customers they can continue to be billed directly by Netflix, if they so choose.
The promotions also emerge as many are asking why Netflix would cede billing power to Comcast in the first place.
Earlier this week, trade journal Digital Music News, quoting unidentified sources, said Comcast had threatened Netflix with paid prioritization charges—a charge stridently denied not only by Comcast but by Netflix, as well.
Of course, it should be noted that even if that were true, it would be perfectly legal, with the FCC recently rolling back regulations that restrict paid prioritization.
However, there is plenty to suggest that Netflix’s motivations are profit and not fear. During the SVOD company’s first-quarter earnings call on Monday, Chief Product Officer Greg Peters noted the ongoing importance of MVPD relationships to Netflix as the service tries to penetrate deeper portions of the global market.
“Based on what we've seen with these new bundle models that we referred to with both Comcast and Sky, announcing in the last quarter, we've seen the economics of those—if you take in the retention, the acquisition characteristics—to be very, very beneficial,” Peters said, according to a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.