CBS All Access Joins Comcast Xfinity X1 Lineup In First-Of-Its-Kind Pay-TV Integration
CBS All Access has been integrated into Comcast’s Xfinity X1 pay-TV offering in a first for the five-year-old ViacomCBS streaming service.
Xfinity had added the subscription outlet to its Flex broadband video bundle earlier this year. It is the first pay-TV operator to carry the streaming service, a noteworthy moment in the evolution of streaming. When CBS first announced it was going “over-the-top,” the initiative was seen as a way for the legacy broadcaster to reach cord-cutters or cord-nevers.
Five years later, the original programming offerings of subscription services like All Access (which will be rebranded as Paramount+ in early 2021) are seen as viable extensions of pay-TV subscriptions rather than either-or propositions.
More than 20,000 episodes and movies from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and other brands are offered on CBS All Access. Original programming on the service includes docuseries Texas 6 and Star Trek: Discovery, whose new episodes premiere every Thursday. Limited event series The Stand, based on Stephen King’s novel, will debut December 17.
Rebecca Heap, SVP of Video and Entertainment for Comcast Cable, confirmed the move in a blog post. The integration follows that of Hulu, Spotify and Peacock in 2020. Major services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube were previously added to X1. Comcast has long pursued the strategy of making streaming services available to its pay-TV and broadband customers, with the belief that reducing barriers to rivals would be better for business.
“We’ll continue to bring the best in entertainment to X1 and Flex, making it easier for our customers to find and discover all their favorite shows, music, and sports,” Heap wrote in the blog post.
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