It appears that many of the ISP’s around here are looking to get their own video platform. We’ve been hearing that Verizon is going to be announcing their own platform later this year. And that was a big reason that they picked up AOL. While many think AOL hasn’t been relevant for years, they own a few major publications, like TechCrunch. Now, we’re hearing from the Business Insider that Comcast is also looking to launch their own “major video platform”. With it being named “Watchable”, and the publication says that there is a pretty small chance of that name changing before launch.
Business Insider has plenty of details on “Watchable” as well. They are stating that Comcast is partnering with a number of digital publishers. This includes Comcast-backed Vox Media as well as Buzzfeed, Lifestyle and more. They are also using legacy brands like NBC Sports – which they own NBC, so that’s not a big surprise – so they can have a widespread digital video platform. One that can rival YouTube and Facebook’s arsenal right now.
Sources of Business Insider are saying that the full list of media companies that Comcast is partnering with is still being determined. The partnership with Comcast, the report says, is that publishers are agreeing to upload all unlicensed and original video content to Watchable. So that users are able to stream them on demand. The content from these publishers will be bundled and of course curated for all of Comcast’s Xfinity X1 box owners. Currently, only a few million of Comcast’s customers have the X1 system, but the company expects them to have tens of millions of subscribers on the X1 platform by 2017. The Xfinity X1 platform is a set-top box that not only delivers cable TV, but also allows users to stream unlimited movies and TV Shows on demand on their Mobile devices as well as allowing them to control their TV’s from their mobile devices, even if they aren’t on the same WiFi network.
This is a pretty interesting thing for Comcast. Of course, they are always looking to make some more cash. And this would definitely help them out. It’d also be big for publishers like Vox Media, as it means more eye balls are on their content. Even though they are already a pretty large publication.