Netflix and Comcast Set Feud Aside for Top Box Deal

Netflix has entered into a deal with Comcast that is pleasing to those people looking to stop buying complete cable programming and just channels they are interested in watching.

Netflix’s streaming service will soon be available on Comcast X1 set top boxes that will make it easier for the Comcast subscriber of its TV platform that is cloud based to access the exclusive content Netflix such as House of Cards and Orange is the new Black.

The two companies through a joint statement said that there was a great deal of work that needed to be completed prior to the service becoming available to Comcast consumers later in 2016.

The fact that there is an agreement is a huge revelation. Although the part agreed to is not that different from deals that Netflix previously struck with smaller outfits in the U.S. including RCN and Dish Networks as well as a few international carriers.

The Netflix app already is embedded in smart TVs and can be streamed through Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku supplementing its regular business of streaming.

However, despite their symbiotic relationship Comcast and Netflix have not done well together.

Netflix has disrupted and wreaked havoc on the world of cable providers. It has given the consumer with access to broadband the incentive to sever ties or at a minimum pare back their commitment monthly to traditional satellite and cable providers through their offering of an array of TV shows and movies through the streaming subscription service.

Comcast, which as a provider of services on broadband is vital to the primary distribution model of Netflix, as well as s content producer that is beneficial from more demand for programming, has a big stake in broadcast platforms and traditional cable.

The relationship between the two has been on shaky ground at least the past six years dating back to a plan by Comcast that was unrealized working with Blockbuster to take on the DVD rental business of Netflix.

After that, Netflix accused Comcast of violating requirement of net neutrality by giving its own data stream video service preferable treatment online over the programming of Netflix as well as others.

Comcast then complained that Netflix customers’ content account data use that was outsized proportionally on its broadband network, which effectively gummed up everything and taxed capacity.