Comcast Launches a $15 Monthly Streaming TV Service

But you probably shouldn't get it.

Let me begin by saying something nice about one of America's most loathed companies: Comcast has just announced Stream, a $15 per month streaming TV service for people who don't want to buy a cable package. You need to be a Comcast internet customer to sign up. The service launches in Boston this summer, will go to Seattle and Chicago soon, and get rolled out to everybody in 2016.

That's the good. Here's the bad: Stream sounds like a forgettable service that's loaded down with compromises.

Your $15 per month buys you streaming access on laptop or mobile device to about a dozen channels, which includes the major networks and HBO. Now, HBO is a pretty nice get, considering it's going to cost $15 just for access to HBO Now, the new standalone app for people who want to watch Game of Thrones but don't have a cable subscription (or somebody else's password). It could be the service's selling point if you were going to pay for HBO Now anyway.

Besides HBO, though, the broadcast channels you'll get through Stream are all available for free if you've got a decent antenna. The service won't include any of the other major cable networks, so you're out of luck if you want to watch ESPN, AMC, FX, HGTV....

Says The Verge:

Where Stream is ostensibly similar to over-the-top services such as Sling, there are fundamental differences between the two. Sling offers access to cable networks such as ESPN, where the only cable network included with Stream is HBO. Sling also lets users watch TV anywhere, while Xfinity internet customers are limited to using Stream on their home Wi-Fi, a restriction that raises questions about net neutrality.

That's right—you can't watch live TV on mobile, only at home.

Okay, it's nice to see a provider like Comcast acknowledge the existence and rise of cord-cutters, and offer something beyond the traditional cable package. Clearly, there are changes that are happening in the market," Strauss told The New York Times. "Not everybody is going to want a full pay-TV bundle."

True. And it's not impossible to imagine customers for whom Stream might have appeal—say, people who happen to have Xfinity internet service already and would like streaming access to some of these channels, and who have a tablet but don't want to sink the money into buying more hardware in the form of a streaming media box.

Still, it's not going to be an easy to convince people to pay $15/month for a service with such limited appeal—not when $8/month for Hulu, a cheap HD antenna, and your mom's HBO password can deliver basically the same thing.

Source: Philadelphia Magazine, The Verge

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