Netflix said earlier this week that it would launch on its first U.S. MVPD TiVo boxes this quarter, following a path it has already been on in Europe (like with Virgin Media in the UK, for example).
It looks like Netflix will actually be available on TiVo boxes from three providers as early as next week. Those providers, according to Variety, are RCN Communications, Atlantic Broadband, and Grande Communications – numbers 8, 13, and 9 respectively on Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for the U.S. For comparison, Comcast is number 28.
Of course the three providers are much smaller than Comcast. According Variety, RCN has 333,000 video subs, with Atlantic Broadband having 230,000 customers, and Grande having about 140,000. Still, that’s hundreds of thousands of people getting a new way to access Netflix should they choose to do so.
Like other similar deals Netflix has made abroad, users will still have to pay regular prices for Netflix subscriptions (tip: do it soon if your’e going to, prices for new members are about to go up). For the company, these deals simply get their service in front of more people on devices they really want to watch content on – those connected to their televisions.
Netflix will no doubt by making more of these deals, though I doubt we’ll be seeing Netflix and Comcast cozying up anytime soon.
Image via Netflix