Comcast to Let Customers Stream Netflix Shows on Its Platform

(Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp. and Netflix Inc. have agreed to let customers of both companies stream Netflix's web video content on the cable company's X1 platform.

The deal will provide “seamless access to the great content offered by both companies,” Comcast and Netflix said in a statement Tuesday.

Netflix shares rose as much as 4.8 percent to $101.27 and were trading at $98.08 at 12:39 p.m. in New York. Comcast fell 0.6 percent to $64.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.8 percent.

For Comcast, the pact moves the company closer to its ultimate goal of delivering customers all of their entertainment options -- both on traditional cable TV and online-streaming services -- through their cable subscription. For Netflix, the deal gives the world's largest online video network easier access to Comcast's 22 million video subscribers, who previously had to toggle between cable and web-connected devices such as a Roku Inc. player to watch Netflix on their TVs.

The accord represents a thawing of relations between the two companies. Netflix opposed Comcast's bid to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., which regulators moved to block last year. Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings also criticized internet providers like Comcast for charging his company for dependable web delivery of shows and movies.

“We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year,” the companies said in the statement. “We'll provide more details at that time.”

News of the deal was earlier reported by Recode.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Paul Barbagallo, Lisa Wolfson