Comcast to offer online video

In a move that it says is not a direct attack on Hulu, Comcast will offer an online, on-demand video service later this year.

"OnDemand Online" will be available free to Comcast cable TV subscribers, Business Insider reports. That means only customers inside Comcast’s cable zone can sign up, but the service itself is available anywhere. For example, a user could still watch on demand videos away from home (the company is working on a way to verify subscriptions). Also of note, the service would count against Comcast’s 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap.

The major difference between this service and Hulu is content. While Hulu’s videos come from NBC, Fox and their cable channels like FX, Comcast is inking deals with other cable networks, possibly providing a streaming opportunity for channels like the Food Network and Discovery. In other words, Comcast is going to focus on content that isn’t already online.

Because Comcast and other cable providers pay fees that account for roughly half of cable channels’ revenue, it’s in the channels’ best interests to keep providers healthy, Business Insider notes. By comparison, hardly any money comes in through online viewing, so its more likely for a channel to give its content to Comcast than to an online-only service like Hulu.

Of course, Hulu is free, while monthly subscription costs for cable TV seem to rise constantly. With that in mind, OnDemand Online is a bit puzzling. Despite recent reports of people shedding their cable subscriptions to cut monthly expenses, Comcast doesn’t seem to grasp that it’s about money, not content. And as other streaming services like Hulu and Netflix move to get their content off computer screens, Comcast’s strategy involves moving away from the TV, which is arguably its biggest asset.

Online streaming is a nice perk for people who are hanging on to cable, but will it really stop the bleeding of people who aren’t?