The quiet launch of a partnership between Amazon and Comcast has the potential to shake up the market as Comcast has expanded its online sales options in a strategic effort to improve the perception of its brand and provide customers with quality customer service.
Buying a cable subscription from the same retailer who provides your OTT video subscription service, a cable provider’s competitor, might make you feel like you are in “The Twilight Zone,” but it could be a sign that the market landscape is changing and rather than fight for eyeballs, SVoD services and pay TV services are settling on sharing eyeballs and the mutual business venture can potentially benefit both companies.
The goal behind selling Comcast services through Amazon is to improve and simplify the entire process of subscribing to Internet and TV services according to Comcast’s cable division president Neil Smit. Amazon boasts on its Cable Store home page that ordering Internet and TV services through the site can be done in a simple three-step process: select a package and equipment, complete a credit check and schedule an installation.
The true star of the Comcast via Amazon option is the reimagining of the service providers’ customer service options. Comcast is notorious for sub-par customer service so much so that the company has only a 1.5 star rating on Amazon followed by tons of reviews detailing the insufficient and downright bad experiences customers have had with the company.
Amazon, on the other hand, has a great track record in the area, “a brand that’s unrivaled when it comes to customer service,” said Comcast EVP of customer experience Charlie Herrin. A large portion of improving the public’s perception of the company falls on customer service so customers that subscribe through Amazon are promised: “Dedicated customer service, exclusively for Amazon customers,” according to the Amazon Cable Store home screen. Comcast said it has set aside two call centers with 90 employees trained especially for Comcast sales through Amazon, a move that could encourage customers seeking a better customer service experience to subscribe through Amazon. Amazon’s Cable Store goes into detail about customer service on its home page saying that it will give customers access to agents that can handle all of a customers’ needs, from billing to technical issues, that the goal is to connect customers to a service rep in under 60 seconds and that cancelling and downgrading subscriptions will be a simple process as reps don’t earn commissions and customers can choose a contract without terms.
Amazon’s Comcast offerings include Internet packages starting at 10 Mbps up to 150 Mbps, an assortment of Internet and TV bundles like the Xfinity Internet Plus 75 which features Internet speeds up to 75 Mbps and 30 or more HD cable channels and HBO and various Triple Play bundles. One of those offerings includes the Starter Triple Play which includes 140 or more HD TV channels, DVR, 75 Mbps Internet speeds and telephone service. No pricing information is available for the services when searching outside of Comcast-serviced areas and services are still being activated on the site across regions Comcast does service. Comcast said bundle pricing on Amazon will be the same as what it offers through its own Website.
Amazon will take a fee for each Comcast subscription that a customer signs up for through the Amazon Cable Store and Smit reported that down the road other Comcast products could be offered through Amazon as well.
The Amazon Cable Store is the company’s marketplace for the Comcast offerings, but it appears equipped to sell services from other providers so down the road Amazon will more than likely begin to offer services from other providers as well. The Wall Street Journal reported that Charter said it is in talks with Amazon about a retail partnership, but no decisions have been made public according to a spokesperson from the company.
This partnership with Amazon could lead to Comcast gaining more exposure to digital audiences by being offered through the giant Online retailer, to the point that Amazon could bundle its own Prime Instant Video service with Comcast Internet and bundled services, creating a landscape where the services can coexist and compliment rather than compete with each other. Comcast could also offer Amazon’s Fire TV devices to its subscribers. Amazon will offer customers the chance to lease equipment but the site encourages customers to “avoid leasing fees” by the customer using their own modem followed by a link to buy a Comcast compatible equipment straight through the site, a revenue stream from Comcast’s service options that directly benefits Amazon.
The business model can be beneficial for both parties and as Amazon adds more service providers to its cable store, offering not only the services but all of the equipment for TV or Internet usage, it could become the online one-stop shop for all of a consumers’ cable and Internet needs. If Amazon sees real success with its Cable Store venture it has the potential to revolutionize the way consumers subscribe to pay TV and broadband.
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter.