Comcast said it is launching an app for CBS All Access on its X1 platform this week, a move that follows the integration of the OTT service on Xfinity Flex, Comcast's streaming and smart home offering for broadband-only customers, earlier this year.

This week's launch on X1 will make Comcast the first pay-TV service provider to integrate CBS All Access, a premium streaming service from ViacomCBS that features both live and on-demand fare, with an emphasis on exclusive, original Star Trek series such as Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.

Figure 1: CBS All Access is launching on X1 boxes this week. Comcast will extend access to CBS All Access to Flex customers in early 2021.
(Image source: Comcast)

CBS All Access, which also delivers live news and sports streams from CBS, is also inching toward the December 17 premiere of The Stand, a limited series based on the Stephen King novel. Comcast Xfinity Flex subs also get access to streams of local CBS stations.

The integration this week on X1 comes almost a year after Comcast announced the integration pact with ViacomCBS.

The deal is also taking shape as ViacomCBS pushes ahead with a plan to launch Paramount+, a rebranded and expanded form of CBS All Access, sometime in early 2021.

Update: Comcast will continue to carry the service when it becomes Paramount+, an official said.

Pricing on Paramount+ has not been announced. CBS All Access currently costs $5.99 per month with ads and $9.99 per month without ads.

The Comcast-CBS All Access combo arrives on X1 amid massive changes to the pay-TV universe.

ViacomCBS and other major programmers and media companies, including Disney, NBCUniversal, Discovery Communications and Warner Media, have all launched or plan to launch new direct-to-consumer streaming products to counteract traditional pay-TV subscriber losses.

Meanwhile, cable operators and other pay-TV providers are taking on the role of the master aggregator by embracing streaming services and integrating them on their own video platforms.

Comcast has already integrated several popular streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and Spotify, on X1 and Flex, and is close to doing the same for HBO Max, the new streaming service from WarnerMedia that launched nationally on May 27.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading