Netflix Is Coming After Your Cable Box
Interesting and big win for Netflix in the UK, and it makes great sense if you’re them. And honestly, if you’re an MSO, it makes sense for them too. Why try to build up a lower quality competitor that probably doesn’t have much value, when you can just charge Netflix a royalty for doing all the hard work anyways?
But it’s not clear U.S. operators would be keen on bringing the disruptive streaming service directly into the fold. “There’s been kind of an animosity on the pay-TV side because Netflix is seen as contributing to the biggest bogeyman in the business today, and that’s cord cutting,” says Erik Brannon, a senior analyst at IHS Screen Digest. A spokesman for Time Warner Cable declined to comment on whether the company would ever offer Netflix. A spokesman for Cox Communications said the company had no current plans to do so, though its latest DVR devices have the technical ability to integrate a third-party app like Netflix.