Comcast will let you watch Amazon Prime Video like a cable channel | Social
After adding Netflix and YouTube to its X1 pay-TV service, Comcast is adding Amazon Prime Video, with shows like The Grand Tour, later this year.
Comcast
Amazon is getting some prime real estate on Comcast’s X1 service.
On Thursday, Amazon and Comcast said that they’ll incorporate Amazon’s streaming video service onto X1, the cable company’s high-tech pay-TV service, used by about 62 percent of its customers. The new partnership means Amazon’s library of streaming video will be available and searchable on Comcast X1, like a regular channel or show.
It’s the first time Amazon has struck this kind of partnership, a strategy its bigger rival Netflix has been using for years. Having already won most of the subscribers they can get out of the existing pool of cord cutters, companies like Netflix and now Amazon are hoping they can entice new sign-ups from people who’re still comfortable with their traditional TV service.
Comcast opened its gates to Netflix in 2016 and to YouTube in 2017. Comcast said adding Amazon makes it the only traditional TV service with all three available in the US.
X1 users will be able to flip to any show or movie on Amazon from the same interface they use to pick from selections of live TV, video on demand or remote DVRs. They’ll get search results for items on Amazon if the same content is on regular channels, and the service’s voice-command button on its remote will work with Amazon too, so customers can simply tell their TV to turn on The Grand Tour or one of Amazon’s other programs.
Integrating Amazon’s streaming service directly onto X1 eliminates the extra hoops to jump through of watching it on your TV through a streaming box like Apple TV or Roku.
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