Comcast and the Walt Disney Company on Thursday jointly announced that the Disney Plus and ESPN Plus streaming services will be natively integrated into the cable operator’s X1 and Xfinity Flex video platforms.
The cable operator said the subscription streaming services will hit its customers' set-top boxes in the first quarter of 2021.
The announcement was tied to a Disney “investor day” presentation, in which the media conglomerate touted a new global subscriber benchmark for Disney Plus: 86.8 million users.
Also Read: Disney Plus Now at 86.8 Million Subscribers
“Whether it’s live, on demand or streamed via an app, unifying content is our strength, and we’re pleased to add Disney Plus and ESPN Plus to our aggregation platforms, all accessible with the award-winning Xfinity voice remote,” said Rebecca Heap, senior VP of video and entertainment for Comcast Cable, in a statement.
Added Michael Paull, president of Disney Plus and ESPN Plus: “From day one we have set out to make our streaming services available both widely and broadly to audiences, and we’re excited to extend this promise to the millions of Xfinity customers.”
Starting with Netflix almost four years ago, Comcast has steadily added major OTT services as native offerings within X1, and later, Flex, allowing users to access these platforms within the cable company’s video UI.
Sometimes, this integration takes a long time. For example, Comcast users still don’t have native access to HBO Max, even though X1 and Flex integration was announced when the service launched back in May.
