a Putting some context on his company's much ballyhooed announcement of a new skinny, IP-distributed programming bundle, Stream, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the service will offer the MSO a way to "up sell" broadband customers who don't already have a video package.
But don't look for explosive profitability from Stream, which Comcast will be testing in Boston and several other markets this year.
"It's not something you're going to see meaningful results from in the near future," Roberts told investors during Comcast's second-quarter earnings call today.
Offered at $15 a month, Stream allows only users of Xfinity broadband access to all the major broadcast networks, PBS and HBO. It also delivers an array of on demand programming, as well as a cloud DVR.
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) finished the second quarter with 22.5 million broadband subscribers versus 22.3 million video customers. Now that Comcast officially has more broadband customers than video customers, Roberts said the MSO can "see what we can do in the mindset of selling broadband and introducing video."
He said Stream is a direct descendent of Comcast's Xfinity on Campus service, which is an over-the-top pay-TV service targeted to college campuses.
Meanwhile, shedding additional light on Stream, Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit noted that Stream is not really an OTT product, since it's delivered over Comcast's IP network using a dedicated swath of bandwidth. As such, Stream is a "Title 6" product that doesn't require any new licensing rights from programmers.
Stream, Roberts summed up, is "part of the whole panoply of having a range of offerings, which is very, very different from where we were a few years ago."
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