Cable subscribers typically recognize a handful of news brands, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. If Comcast has its way, they may start to search more readily for one outlet that has been linked more readily to the emerging realm of broadband.
NBC News Now, the free ad-supported streaming service launched by NBC News in 2019, is set to be made a bigger a part of Xfinity, the consumer-facing cable-and-broadband service from corporate parent Comcast. NBC News Now will, starting Monday, become part of the company’s X1 platform and channel guide, alongside 20 other FAST channels. Users will see its offerings throughout various guides, including the ones pointing to live programming.
“Having an opportunity to get distribution on Xfinity was a chance that we did not want to pass up,” says Janelle Rodriguez, executive vice president of NBC News Now. “We are very seriously committed to being wherever we can bring premium news to people for free.” NBCUniversal says it has seen viewership for NBC News Now grow year over year for six consecutive quarters.
The move may serve to break down walls between different kinds of video news products. By making digital options easier to find through an interface familiar to cable subscribers, Comcast could eliminate traditional boundaries between different sorts of programming. To be sure, any user of an Amazon Fire or Apple TV app has discovered ways to toggle between content typically considered the province of a traditional cable network and that seen as the purview of a streaming service. But the Xfinity maneuver could erase that distinction in the minds of customers more at home in a linear expereince.
“By integrating the No. 1 streaming news channel directly into our user interface, we’re making it as easy as possible for our customers to access news and information they can’t get anywhere else,’ said Vito Forlenza, vice president of Xfinity Entertainment Apps, in a statement. “And, since it’s available at no additional cost, all customers can participate regardless of their relationship with us.”
NBC News Now features 11 live hours of original reporting from anchors such as Tom Llamas, Chuck Todd, Hallie Jackson and Savannah Sellers. In the first quarter of 2022, the service was made available in Europe via Sky UK and Virgin Media. The outlet focuses on hard news and breaking news, rather than perspective or opinion programming.
Zinhle Essamuah also starts Monday as an official co-anchor for the program “NBC News Daily” from 2 pm to 4pm eastern, alongside Kate Snow. Since joining NBC News two years ago, she has frequently appeared as a guest anchor for NBC News Now. She previously worked for NowThis before joining NBC News in 2021.
