Comcast Plays another "Platform"

Todd Chanko | June 29, 2006, 10:15 AM

Comcast's acquisition of thePlatform - a streaming media facilitator - sends a strong signal regarding the future of multichannel TV service. The nation's largest Pay TV operator, comprising nearly double the amount of subs of DISH and DirecTV combined, reportedly paid almost $100 million for this Seattle-based company that provides ingestion, content management, DRM solutions and overall facilitating of streaming media for many national brands such as CNBC, CourtTV, and ABC News. Billing itself as a "media publisher," thePlatform already counted Comcast as a customer for its own site "The Fan."

By making this acquisition, Comcast recognizes that the migration of mainstream TV programming across platforms – online, wireless, on-demand - will require solutions that satisfy numerous needs and constituencies. Moreover, Comcast wants to ensure that it understands and owns the tools it needs to provide multichannel and multiplatform video service, such that it can avoid being disintermediated by programmers entirely. While owning thePlatform will not entirely prevent leakage of subscribers from the traditional Pay TV paradigm, it may give Comcast an edge in maintaining its preeminent position as the nation's leading Pay TV provider - no matter what the platform.