Someday, you will be able to buy your house and everything in it from Amazon, much like Sears a century ago. Perhaps to prepare for that day, Amazon is now selling Comcast’s Xfinity bundles in its new Amazon Cable Store, and the store setup implies that they’ll be adding carriers in other areas soon.
Technically, the cable store is only a section of Amazon’s “home services” site, from which we assume you’ll just be able to buy a new house within a few years. At the bottom of the page, it lists Xfinity as one of its “Featured Providers,” with plenty of room for more. Will other providers sign on? They’ll have to be okay with the new store’s requirements, which include making it easy for customers to use their own modem (which, incidentally, they can purchase from Amazon).
The Cable Store advertises advantages to buying cable from Amazon, which include a dedicated, no-waiting customer service line just for customers coming in from Amazon, and Amazon gift cards for people who sign up.
It is also strangely comforting to be able to select cable package options in the same format that you choose options for everything else that you buy on Amazon.
The site’s pricing is the same as Comcast’s own site, and the Amazon Cable site makes skinny bundles, or packages of channels based on an interest like sports or kids’ channels, easy to shop through and access.
If you already have Xfinity service, you can’t switch your allegiance to Amazon: they’re like any other reseller, and simply get a cut for signing you up and pass you on to Comcast. However, you can sign up a second address if you want cable for your vacation home or for a family member you want to add to your account.
Amazon begins reselling Comcast services on its new site, the Amazon Cable Store [TechCrunch]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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