Netflix is in talks with several US pay-TV providers including Comcast and Suddenlink to make its online video service available as an app on their set-top boxes, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. A deal would mark the company's first such tie-up with a US provider and follows a similar agreement recently announced with UK cable operator Virgin Media. The talks are in early stages and no deal is imminent, the report said.
A stumbling block in the talks with at least two operators is that Netflix is insisting that they also take on its special technology designed to improve the delivery of its streaming video, the paper's sources said. The technology is part of its Open Connect program and consists of special servers Netflix wants to connect directly into broadband providers' networks. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Verizon have declined to use the technology, concerned that such an arrangement could lead other online services to ask for special treatment. The internet providers argue their broadband networks are fully capable of handling Netflix traffic, the report said.
