Cheddar, the financial news service focused on millennial audiences, is now offered on Comcast’s X1 set-top box platform and is available to all X1 customers.
Access to Cheddar on X1 is offered on all programming packages and includes a live linear feed of Cheddar as well as on-demand clips from the news service in categories such as technology, business, culture and politics. Comcast subs can access Cheddar via the X1 news section or get to it directly by saying “Cheddar” into the X1 voice remote. Cheddar content has also been integrated with the X1 search platform.
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At the end of Q3, about 57% of Comcast’s residential video base was on X1. Comcast Ventures is an investor in Cheddar.
Access to Cheddar’s live stream is delivered to X1 boxes via the internet (so data for that will be applicable to Comcast’s internet data usage policy), while on-demand access appears to be available via the separately managed Xfinity On Demand service.
Notably, when the live feed of Cheddar is accessed on X1, the system opens up the integrated YouTube app to deliver the stream.
“It’s amazing and validating to turn on the TV and see Cheddar alongside Fox Business and CNBC on X1,” Jon Steinberg, CEO of Cheddar, noted in this blog post.
Cheddar isn't commenting on the financial aspects of its X1 agreement. "What I can say is that I think what we have done with the amazing X1 team is one of a kind and the future of television," Steinberg said via email to Multichannel News, in response to a question about the terms of the deal. "Live linear and VOD clips all available with the simple utterance of the word 'Cheddar.' And our content right next to CNBC and Fox Business in the finance section. We are just getting started and I anticipate we will continue to push the envelope with the Comcast team. Comcast Ventures invested in Cheddar precisely to pioneer the future of live video and media."
Cheddar also posted a short video demo of its X1 integration:
Cheddar recently gained distribution on Layer3 TV, the Denver-based MVPD that was recently acquired by T-Mobile.
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In addition to YouTube, Comcast has also integrated several other OTT apps with X1, including Netflix, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and a slate of casual games offered in partnership with TransGaming.
