Comcast opens in Boston, again!
Stream seems like a hot product for web-cutters. But Comcast is trying it out first in Boston, then Chicago and Seattle. Why not in its own home town?
Monday's announcement about Stream, Comcast 's new $15-a-month streaming TV competitor to Sling TV, got Gizmo Guy growling. Why is Boston getting this first? What does Beantown have that Cheesesteak-ville (and Comcastic-Town) doesn't?
Priced right and bundling "all major broadcast networks" (still missing on Sling TV) with HBO for reception on laptops, tablets and mobile phones, Stream is targeting the customer who buys Internet service as a standalone product, who's content watching TV shows on a smaller screen. The package will also include "thousands of on-demand movies and shows to watch home or away and even comes with access to TV Everywhere and a cloud DVR so you can record all your favorites and watch them later," announced vp Matt Strauss in a blog post.
Stream won't be available initially on web & TV-connected devices like a Roku box or Apple TV, though sources suggest you will be able to sign in on those devices (with your Stream ID) to watch on-demand HBO Go content. Oddly, the similar, standalone HBO Now service (receivable on web TV boxes) also goes for $15. So Stream is essentially "giving away" local channels for free.
The rub is: Stream will only be available to customers who buy their Internet service from Comcast.
That brings us back to "why Boston?" For starters, it's become a far more competitive market for internet service providers. Verizon FiOS has built out better there than here, where I can get FiOS service on my side of the block (in South Philly), but my neighbors across the street can't. RCN has "overbuilt" parts of Boston and the 'burbs. There's a bargain wireless service alternative called NetBlazr that enjoys positive - verging on gloating - Yelp reviews. And now a second radio-frequency wireless service called Webpass is readying its entry to Boston, after starting out in San Francisco, San Diego, Miami and Chicago. While NetBlazr downloads content in the 10-20 Mbps range, Webpass offers 100, 200 or 500 Mbps service with prices starting at $55 a month or $500 a year.
For Comcast, then, Stream could prove a useful tool for "customer retention" and maybe conversion. Well, there's only one way to find out.
Boston also has some history as a Comcast tryout town – for items like a cable box integrated with TiVo features that never made the move to Broadway, let alone Philadelphia. So it's fair to presume the company's Boston support team has a high(er) comfort level when it comes to installing and explaining new services.
And given the town's mindset – all those MIT grads floating about, lots of tech businesses on the Rte. 128 corridor – the customer base might make for more agreeable participants in "beta" product testing, more forgiving if/when things go wrong.
After the summer trial launch in Boston, Stream moves on next to Chicago and Seattle. We'll get it here next year.