Will Comcast Stream Fulfill The Dream Of Cable-Free TV?

Comcast Corporation CMCSA has unveiled a new streaming video service called Stream.

Available to Xfinity Internet customers for $15 per month, Stream offers live content from HBO and all of the major broadcast networks. This allows subscribers to watch Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS Corporation CBS from any PC, tablet or smartphone. TV support (via Xbox One, Apple TV, etc.) is not currently offered.

"They're charging $15 a month, but it's going to be above what you're already paying," Marc Berman, editor in chief of TV Media Insights, told Benzinga. "We're living in an environment where people want to save money. The question is, why would I want to spend $15 extra -- what am I really going to get out of this? What are you getting that you can't get elsewhere?"

Tech industry expert and analyst Jeff Kagan said this is simply the result of things moving to the Internet.

"That means Comcast, too," Kagan told Benzinga. "Yesterday they used to send content over their cable television [service], which most still use. Tomorrow everything will go over the Internet. The Internet is the channel all of Comcast's competitors are already using."

Related Link: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Predicted To Make $250 - $500 Million Opening Weekend, Beating 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron'

Kagan expects Comcast to move more of its business to the Internet to "remain competitive" over the next few years.

"We have always thought of companies like Comcast as cable television providers, but going forward, we'll start to think of them as content and Internet companies," Kagan added.

'All They Need'

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, said that while the current crop of OTT (over-the-top) services are "rather limited," they will "improve over time."

"Comcast's service is good enough and cheap enough to at least initially make their bundle work and allow them to hold off Sling and Vue," Enderle told Benzinga. "That's likely all they need right now. However, there is clearly a race to get to a true cable equivalent in an OTT service. You'd think a cable company should be able to get there first."

In Search Of An Answer

Berman stressed how important it is for OTT providers (such as Comcast) to offer something unique.

"Don't I already have access to those networks?" Berman questioned. "What am I getting that's different? I think that's the question that needs to be answered, which I don't think is being answered."

To attract consumers, Berman said that OTT providers need to offer something "that doesn't already exist."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.