Comcast is the biggest mass media and cable company in the world. They own NBC/Universal, and tried to get Time Warner. One would think this would be enough for any media conglomerate. ?It’s not enough for Comcast.
Comcast is in the works of launching a video digital streaming service. And they’ve got plenty of allies backing them in this endeavor. They have online media companies Vox and Buzzfeed (already owned by Comcast). They have NBC Sports, comedic entities The Onion and Awesomeness TV, and alternative news sites Mic and Vice. They’re other allies too. The goal is to eventually beat Google’s You Tube at their own game. They know Facebook is producing it’s own streaming service as well, and wants to beat them to the punch. They know Verizon is putting a video streaming service together; they’ll naturally combat. Comcast’s potential video service will be called Watchable. Comcast’s allies agree to upload unlicensed and original to Watchable users for on-demand streaming purposes. Other allies will commit to Comcast’s Watchable cause in the next few years. Comcast wants to get rid of subscriber boxes and replace them with X1 boxes. These X1 boxes could provide the platform Watchable needs for tens of millions of consumers. No wonder why Comcast wants X1 boxes in every consumer home by 2017.
Comcast is one of the most powerful corporations in America today. It’s also one of the most hated companies today. I seriously doubt Watchable will help them score any popularity points with businesses or consumers. What Comcast needs to do is improve what they have and get on the good side of it’s customers. Leave the streaming to You Tube, Netflix and others. Some could argue it’s helping media like The Onion and Mic get exposure. Can’t they get exposure somewhere else and with someone else? Doesn’t the phrase, “When they’re too big to fail, they’re too big to care” hold merit here?