More than a year after integrating Hulu's subscription VoD service, Comcast has added Hulu's Internet-delivered pay-TV offering to Xfinity Flex, a streaming and smart home platform targeted to Comcast's broadband-only customers.

Existing Hulu + Live TV customers can access the service on Flex using their existing credentials. Customers new to Hulu + Live will be able to sign up for the service directly via Flex "in the coming weeks," Comcast said. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it's likely that Comcast will get a piece of any Hulu business that comes through the cable operator's door.

Figure 1: Hulu + Live TV is the latest pay-TV service to be integrated with Flex. Comcast has also woven in Sling TV as well as the cable operator's own Xfinity Stream TV apps.
(Image source: Comcast)

With the launch, Hulu + Live TV, a service that also includes Hulu's SVoD service and starts at $64.99 per month, becomes the second virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) to hook into Flex. Sling TV, the Dish Network-owned vMVPD, was added to Flex roughly a year ago. Comcast has also integrated its own pay-TV streaming app with Flex, offering it as an upgrade option that effectively turns Flex into a fully fledged X1 device.

The addition of Hulu + Live TV brings another popular streaming option to Flex, a platform that Comcast has deployed to about 3.5 million broadband-only customers. Flex has also integrated several other popular subscription-based streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount+ and NBCU's Peacock.

As it continues to integrate those OTT services, Comcast has also expressed interest in broadening the reach of Flex outside of the operator's cable network footprint . Such a move would put Flex in more direct competition with platforms from companies such as Roku, Amazon (Fire TV), Apple (tvOS) and Google (Android TV/Google TV).

The integration with Flex will also give Hulu's pay-TV service more exposure to Comcast's broadband base. The Disney-owned service ended fiscal Q2 with 41.6 million customers – 37.8 million on Hulu's SVoD-only service and 3.8 million on the Hulu + Live TV combo.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading