A leaked company memo from Charter Communications reveals the cable company plans to bring Netflix to its set-top boxes this year.
According to the website TVAnswerMan.com, Charter’s CEO Tom Rutledge sent a memo to employees explaining the move. The plan calls for set-top boxes to soon include “multiple Internet-only services like Netflix.” Additionally, the company’s set-top boxes will include new two-way interactive controls.
In the memo, Rutledge explains that this should occur “by the end of 2018,” and will be rolled out to “every TV outlet [they] serve in a residential setting”.
The memo does not explain whether this roll-out will involve providing new equipment to current customers. There’s also no word on whether current equipment is already provisioned to receive these new features. Current hardware could require a firmware update.
Charter’s Grapple Against Declining Subscriptions
As with other cable and internet service companies, Charter grapples with slowly losing cable subscriber numbers. However, the company also noted that the number of internet-only subscribers has risen.
It is likely that Charter and other telecom services (such as Verizon) are dealing with a similar issue. Comcast put Netflix on its set-top boxes back in 2016. That move, however, does not appear to have helped reverse its noticeably declining cable subscriber numbers.
Still, other data reveals consumers would prefer to have a single point of entry for their streaming video services. That makes Charter’s current plan one that may help slow the bleeding.
Sam Cook is a full-time content strategist by day, a part-time freelance content writer since 2015. In another life, he was a high school English teacher for nearly a decade. Based in sunny New Orleans, he writes long-form educational content on technology, including Insurtech, Fintech, HRtech, and content streaming. He loves whittling down complex ideas within these areas that make decisions easier for buyers. When he’s not reading books with his son Miles and playing video games with the family, you can find him immersed in his growing collection of Euro-style board games.
