Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) have reached a deal to put the popular SVOD service on Comcast customers' set-top boxes, according to Recode.
"Comcast and Netflix have reached an agreement to incorporate Netflix into X1, providing seamless access to the great content offered by both companies. We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year. We'll provide more details at that time," said the companies in a statement provided to Recode.
As the report points out, Morgan Stanley research note from Benjamin Swinburne last month hinted at such a deal between the two companies, indicating that it could impact Comcast's pay-per-view profits but that Comcast could demand a higher bounty for helping Netflix acquire more subscribers.
A deal to put Netflix on its set-top boxes would put Comcast more in line with pay-TV providers like Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that have already done so. The deal also comes as Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR) CEO Tom Rutledge, coming off his company's successful acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, said his MSO was pursuing set-top integration of SVOD services like Netflix and Hulu.
Of course that potential integration was less surprising, given Netflix's support for the Charter-TWC merger, than a potential agreement between Comcast and Netflix, which have had a somewhat contentious relationship.
Back in 2012, when Reuters originally reported that Netflix was pitching an idea of bundling its service with MSOs' video services, Comcast firmly shot down any notion of integrating Netflix service.
In 2014, when Netflix was very actively fighting back against ISPs it accused of overcharging for fast-lane access fees, the SVOD giant specifically called out Comcast for charging fees that were 150 percent more than the cost of transport.
For more:
- read this Recode report
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