Cox Communications is set to throw its hat into the ring full of online video services offered by pay-TV operators.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Cox on Friday will officially debut a new online TV platform called Flare MeTV. The paper is short on specific details, but described the service as similar to Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Watchable and Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) Go90.
Cox spokesman Todd Smith told WSJ that the service will debut free of subscription fees and ads, hosting aggregated web video. Traditional licensed TV programming -- and a monetization model -- could be added over time. Smith said the service will launch before the end of the year.
Flare MeTV will launch across Cox's footprint, save for Texas, which Smith said has "legal and operational" issues. The Flare MeTV app will initially be available only for iPad and feature a Flipboard-like interface that lets users search online videos based on genre.
The Cox rep didn't respond to FierceCable's request to further elaborate.
Cox Communications, the nation's sixth largest pay-TV operator, quietly entered the video game space last year with its Flare Play video game subscription package. The offering is notable considering Comcast recently made a noisy -- albeit poorly received -- splash into the streaming video game business with its Xfinity Games service, which offers users access to a handful of EA games.
And in August, the MSO launched a service targeted to kids under 8 called Flare Kids. The service aggregates child-friendly video from around the Internet.
For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal story
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