Comcast Launches Now TV, A $20-A-Month Streaming Service With 40-Plus Entertainment Channels, FAST Offerings And Peacock Premium

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Comcast Launches Now TV, A $20-A-Month Streaming Service With 40-Plus Entertainment Channels, FAST Offerings And Peacock Premium

Comcast is rolling out Now TV, a streaming offering aimed at what it calls “the value-conscious consumer who wants an entertainment product.” For $20 a month, the service includes more …

deadline.com

Comcast is rolling out Now TV, a streaming offering aimed at what it calls “the value-conscious consumer who wants an entertainment product.”

For $20 a month, the service includes more than 40 live channels, among them A&E, AMC, Hallmark and selections from Warner Bros. Discovery’s portfolio, along with 20-plus free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels from NBC, Sky and Xumo Play. A subscription to Peacock Premium is also included at no extra charge. Now TV is available to customers paying for internet service from Comcast’s Xfinity brand.

This is as Comcast boosts attention to a streaming service that includes Peacock and to address the shift from cable to streaming.

 

[Sammy Reed]

Yeah, $20 a month - now.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Now TV is available to customers paying for internet service from Comcast’s Xfinity brand.

Not a bad deal - if you already have Comcast internet. Comcast/Xfinity tends to use that policy often. For example, you must also have Comcast internet to get much of their "On Demand" programming. Back when we had Comcast for both internet and TV service, tons of TV shows, movies and interesting stuff was available to us via Comcast On Demand. Once our HOA went with a far superior internet provider and included it in the cost of our monthly maintenance fees, we dropped Comcast internet. After that, the amount of On Demand stuff we could watch dropped off significantly, as much of it now presented a black screen and stated "You must have Comcast internet service to view this program" or some such. Sadly, you cannot set up their On Demand service to only show you what's actually available to you, so a lot of time is wasted sometimes, just trying to figure out what one can actually view.

 

[Miss Tuned]

This seems to be the way things are going. Now TV has been available in the UK for a while, as a streamed version of Sky, with premium sports and movies available for a monthly fee. Now Sky itself is heavily promoting "Sky Stream", which is the full Sky package without any need for a satellite dish. There's no limitation as to which ISP you use for it, although they operate a "Sky Broadband" / "Now TV Broadband" (same thing, two brands) internet service provider (which is pretty good quality and cheap, I used them for a while) you can stream their programming on any internet connection.

At some point, I can see these TV providers finding it not worthwhile to continue to operate expensive satellite capacity rentals and going all-streamed.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Spectrum has a similar service on the Cable TV side with a streaming package with 60+ channels, but not the FAST or Peacock portions, which would be a good addition.

As it stands now I'd consider myself a semi-cord cutter who is considering going full soon, but something like this might keep me with them.

 

[gr8oldies]

We went down to the bare minimum cable and kept internet, I'm wondering if that would be available to us and if we could get our local channels

 

[Miss Tuned]

Comcast's Sky are cutting jobs as they shift away from satellite TV toward streaming:

Sky to cut hundreds of jobs in shift from satellite TV

Move follows sweeping restructuring plans announced by rivals including BT and Vodafone

www.ft.com

Job losses were expected to be concentrated in the more traditional areas of Sky’s business, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

Fewer engineers would be needed to fit satellite dishes as more people chose to watch TV over broadband. Some customer service roles in legacy areas were also expected to change.

Since it was bought by Comcast in 2018 for £32bn, Sky has been diversifying away from satellite TV into areas such as streaming — aggregating services such as Netflix with its own channels — and the manufacture and sale of smart TVs.

 

[Larry]

At some point, I can see these TV providers finding it not worthwhile to continue to operate expensive satellite capacity rentals and going all-streamed.

Except what about rural areas that don’t have high speed internet (or their high speed internet comes from a satellite dish)?

 

[Miss Tuned]

Except what about rural areas that don’t have high speed internet (or their high speed internet comes from a satellite dish)?

They can pay Elon Musk to deliver their internet via satellite, and then pay Comcast to deliver the programming via the internet via the satellite. Much more efficient than just delivering the programming via the satellite, and as a bonus Elon Musk gets paid, because we all know he needs the money. 🛰️

 

[anotherguyTN]

Some cable systems are already dropping TV like Sparklight, the former Cable One.

 

[RMarino]

We went down to the bare minimum cable and kept internet, I'm wondering if that would be available to us and if we could get our local channels

I saw the channel lineup on one of the links that was posted last week. Local stations are not included. I also noticed that none of the major cable news channels are included either. Personally I think there are better options out there.

 

[Kelly A]

We went down to the bare minimum cable and kept internet, I'm wondering if that would be available to us and if we could get our local channels

Depending where you live, it's likely you can pick up many of your local stations OTA for free, then supplement cable channels through streaming services like Sling, Roku, etc.

 

[Larry]

I saw the channel lineup on one of the links that was posted last week. Local stations are not included. I also noticed that none of the major cable news channels are included either. Personally I think there are better options out there.

A lot of NBC news programming will be available through Peacock, including NBC News Now, a 24 hour Today show and 24 hour Morning Joe channel and NBC local affiliate newscasts (I believe from some NBC markets)

 

[RMarino]

A lot of NBC news programming will be available through Peacock, including NBC News Now, a 24 hour Today show and 24 hour Morning Joe channel and NBC local affiliate newscasts (I believe from some NBC markets)

Yes I know. But you can get those streams for free on multiple services.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I saw the channel lineup on one of the links that was posted last week. Local stations are not included. I also noticed that none of the major cable news channels are included either. Personally I think there are better options out there.

Spectrum's plan doesn't include any channels owned by Disney, or any of the channels that were formerly owned by Warner before the merger with Discovery. The two channels I would like to have and can't get are TCM and ESPN during college football season.