It’s Here: Netflix Will Become Available on Comcast X1 This Week
It’s (almost) here: starting this week, Comcast X1 users will be able to stream Netflix directly from the cable box.
It’s part of a partnership between Netflix and Comcast, first announced in July, that will begin rolling out as a beta test to those who have Comcast’s new X1 platform.
Comcast will alert X1 users when the beta test becomes available to them, and then all they need to do is opt-in via Comcast Labs and access Netflix by logging in or signing up directly through X1. The test will become available to more and more X1 users throughout the next few weeks, and the app will fully debut to all X1 customers sometime this year, meaning Netflix titles will be accessible via the universal search feature and not just through Comcast Labs.
Recode called the collaboration between the Comcast and Netflix a “very big deal” in July, when it caused Netflix’s stock to jump.
It’s a sign that Comcast can’t avoid its wildly popular competitor. Naturally, the two companies haven’t always gotten along swimmingly, but the deal seems to be a win-win for both companies – it makes Comcast more up-to-date by reaffirming X1 as a web video platform with popular options, not just a typical cable box, and attracts additional business to Netflix.
Plus, it’s certainly a win for viewers. Thanks to X1’s updated voice control feature, all you’ll have to do to binge-watch your favorite show is say “Continue watching ‘Stranger Things.'”
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