Just after it was announced that Netflix would be partnering up with Comcast, Netflix has tweeted that they would be entering a partnership between RCN, Grande Communications, and Atlantic Broadband to create their own channel on those networks. Customers must have specific TiVo set-top boxes provided by the cable companies, and a Netflix account to use the service to have seamless integration. “If you"re an RCN customer, perhaps in the D.C. area you would pick up your remote control, you would tune to Channel 450, and there you"d find Netflix. You"d select it and that"ll launch the Netflix app,” explained David Isenberg, the chief marketing officer for Atlantic Broadband to The Washington Post.
Netflix, a service that has been around since 1997, is now moving into the Cable TV scene. The move to Cable TV will be small compared the vast audience the company has accrued online. The cable companies that Netflix is partnering with serve about 500,000 people each, The Washington Post reports. Similar partnerships are becoming a trend with Amazon Prime Instant Video service from Amazon having a partnership with HBO that will offer older content to be streamed from Amazon"s online video service.
The decision to make Netflix a standalone service as well as a cable TV channel will mean that many will keep their contract with their cable provider, while allowing existing Netflix customers to have a seamless integration to watch shows like House of Cards.