In a new attempt to secure the role of super-aggregator in the increasingly fragmented streaming world, Comcast has launched “StreamStore,” a platform that enables consumers to find, buy and manage hundreds of streaming apps and channels.
Targeted to Comcast’s pay-TV and broadband customers, StreamStore is available on a subset of devices that run Comcast’s EntertainmentOS platform, including X1 set-tops and media players, the Xumo Stream Box and the Xfinity Flex box. Comcast is also providing access to StreamStore via Xfinity.com, its browser-based customer hub.
StreamStore is not launching on Xumo TVs, which are currently sold at retail and not distributed directly by Comcast to broadband and video customers. However, there is “deep interest” in the concept of an operator-supplied smart TV, Xumo President Marcien Jenckes told Light Reading in January at CES in Las Vegas.
StreamStore initially will offer access to more than 450 streaming apps and channels along with about 200,000 movies and TV shows to rent or purchase. Examples of apps available at launch include Netflix, Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Starz, Discovery+, MGM+ and more than 100 “niche” subscription video-on-demand services. Comcast noted that customers will also be able to shop and activate apps on an a la carte basis and bundle subscription video services such as Now TV and Now TV Latino – two slimmed-down, prepaid pay-TV packages tailored for broadband-only customers. ….