After an eight-year hiatus, Comcast Spectacor-owned video gaming culture network G4 will return to linear TV on Nov. 16, launching on Verizon Fios, Cox Communications, Comcast’s own Xfinity TV and Philo TV. 

G4 also said it also has struck a multiyear promotional and commercial partnership with Twitch, and will continue to create channel-specific content on YouTube and social media. 

“Since the initial announcement of G4’s revival at Comic-Con@Home last year, we’ve been in constant dialogue with our audience through the content we’ve produced,” G4 president Russell Arons said in a press release. “We made a promise to fans that we would build this network with their input and are proud to say that our promise has been kept. At G4, we never stopped playing and can’t wait to have our fans join us in our hilarious and fairly preposterous sandbox on November 16.”

The network will produce and deliver programming through its own Burbank, California, broadcast studio, which features a collaborative workplace and professional esports and gaming environment. 

“G4 was a pioneer for video games on television for12 years, long before businesses were focused on gaming. The credibility that comes with that cannot be manufactured,” G4/Spectacor Gaming chief revenue officer Josh Cella said in a press release. "As we gear up to launch, we are excited to unlock our portfolio of talent, creative marketing platforms, interactive programming and an innovative distribution model for business partners."

G4’s programming slate at launch will include new takes on legacy content like geek culture variety program Attack of the Show! with host Kevin Pereira, video game review show Xplay; and competition series Ninja Warrior. New programming includes weekly esports comedy series Boosted, ESL Gaming,  a partnership with gaming lifestyle company ESL Gaming to produce and broadcast several primetime esports programs and  Dungeon & Dragons Limited Series, a limited-run offering that debuts in the fall. 

Additional distribution, programming and content partnerships will be announced closer to the network launch.

G4 launched in 2002, the brainchild of former Disney exec Charles Hirschhorn.  The channel was replaced by short-lived brand experiment the Esquire Network in 2013,  and in 2020 moved over to another Comcast unit — Comcast Spectacor —  which, after a healthy dose of social media buzz around the channel, announced its revival later that year.   

The fact that Netflix let it leak out that it is taking the first steps toward entering the lucrative video game market less than a week before it is slated to release its Q2 results, left some analysts cautiously enthusiastic. While the prospect of the SVOD giant entering yet another market that it could potentially dominate raised spirits, the timing caused some caution among those who suspected it could be a move to divert attention away from possibly lukewarm quarterly results. 

Investors appeared on the fence as well, with Netflix stock closing at $542.95 each on July 15, down about 1%.

Netflix hasn’t released any details as to how it will attack the video game market, but has confirmed to several outlets that it has hired former EA and Oculus executive Mike Verdu to head up a game publishing team as VP of gaming development at the SVOD pioneer. While Netflix again has issued no details on its plans, Bloomberg reported that the company will make video games part of its service as early as next year at no additional charge. 

The idea that Netflix would eventually get into the video gaming business has been kicked around for years. In a research report earlier this week -- before news of Verdu’s hire -- Canaccord Genuity analysts Maria Ripps and Michael Graham wrote that video gaming is a natural extension of the business, given that Netflix already has several content titles based on video games, and releasing downloadable games could help the company capture a bigger chunk of younger viewers. The analysts noted that the recent extension of its deal with producer Shonda Rhimes included potential gaming and virtual reality content. 

Whatever the plan, the notion that a streaming service with more than 200 million paying customers worldwide is thinking about streaming video games, sent video game retailer GameStop’s stock down 7% July 14, and down another 3% in early trading July 15.  

In a research note, Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger offered two pros, two cons and two concerns about the notion of Netflix entering the video game space. On the pro side, Juenger noted that adding video games to the product mix enhances Netflix’s overall value.

"If your subscribers are sometimes/frequently choosing video games as an alternative to watching Netflix, then why not offer them that option within Netflix?,” Juenger wrote.

Also on the pro side: an increased value proposition and increased engagement will drive higher penetration, higher ARPU and reduce churn. 

On the con side, Juenger questioned the timing of the leak, a week before earnings, which most analysts expect to be weak, come out.

“The idea that, knowing Q2 results and the Q3 guide will be received as weak, Netflix leaked this story now (before reporting Q2 next week) in order to change the narrative, distract, divert attention from the core business,” Juenger wrote. “Give everybody something else to focus on and talk about.”

Also on the down side is that the move could be seen as a defensive one because Netflix sees that the market for SVOD is getting too crowded.

“Bears could view this expansion into a new product category as a tacit (or not so tacit) validation that management sees the core business reaching the point where growth significantly slows, and therefore the company needs to do something new/extra to keep growing,” Juenger wrote.

As far as concerns, Juenger said moving into a new market could be a distraction for management, when one of the selling points for the stock has been its executives’ laser focus on the core business. Video games could force some to take their eye off the SVOD ball just when the market is filling up with competitors, all bent on gaining audience share.

“Now, having said that, it is possible to walk and chew gum simultaneously, and one could argue that the lines are already blurred between what constitutes on-demand video entertainment versus interactive video game entertainment,” Juenger wrote. “And the IP works in both settings. On the other hand, the track record of legacy video entertainment companies developing their own video games is very poor.”

Other reports have pointed to Google, which in February scrapped its own in-house video game studio -- Stadia Games and Entertainment-- after less than two years. 

Juenger also expressed concern over pricing, adding that if Netflix included gaming as part of its SVOD service, it would probably eventually have to increase the price down the road, risking alienating subscribers who may not want to play video games. Making gaming a separately priced/a la carte option could solve that problem, but Netflix would lose some scale economics in that scenario.

Netflix could offer gaming as part of its Premium Tier only, but Juenger said that flies in the face of the company’s edict that content remains the same across all versions of the product. 

“All of these options raise the very common business tension of balancing flexibility versus simplicity,” Juenger wrote. “The current Netflix pricing model is extremely simple. Three plans, three prices, the only difference is the number of simultaneous streams (and in some markets, a fourth option, one stream, mobile-only). To the extent Netflix tries to give consumers explicit choices and options around how to include video games, or not, in the service, and whether that includes a new form of in-game spending, all creates complexity to the offering which has a proven detrimental impact on adoption (the paradox of choice).” 

Juenger added that on the positive side, Netflix has reams of consumer information on which  to base its approach, and likely has anticipated and addressed most of the concerns around pricing and product design through countless focus groups and research. And in the end, if it doesn’t work out, Netflix can just walk away from gaming.

“To its credit, Netflix has always erred on the side of choosing the risk of moving too fast and bold, rather than the risk of moving too slow and safe,” Juenger wrote. “There is a rather high probability, frankly, that in hindsight, ten years from now, this idea will look like a no-brainer.”

Cox Communications has been quietly testing a subscription gaming service that streams titles to the TV via a special broadband-connected “Microconsole” that is paired to a handheld controller.

That family-friendly service, called flarePlay, has been available in beta form for about 18 months, though marketing on it did not get underway until early 2015, Cox spokesman Todd Smith said.

flarePlay is a national service that isn’t confined to Cox’s traditional cable footprint (the service exceptions are North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Hawaii, and Arkansas, according to the service’s Web site). flarePlay is being marketed and sold digitally via its Web site as well as at some brick-and-mortar stores, including dozens of Cox Solutions Stores and Toys R Us outlets in cities such as Thornton, Colo., Redwood City, Calif.; and Memphis, Tenn. 

The service offers unlimited play from a library that’s stocked with more than 150 titles. A baseline “Disney Games” package sells for $9.99 per month and features Disney-focused titles such as Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Lego Pirate of the Caribbean: The Video Game, Cars, Tangled and G-Force. flarePlay also offers a “Premium” package for $9.99 per month (sample titles include Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon, Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Star Defender; and a $14.99 per month Combo Game Pack that includes the service's full gaming library.  

Subscribers must also pony up $29.99 for a kit that includes the flarePlay Microconsole, a controller and the required cables. All games are streamed to the television through the Microconsole, which connects to the TV via HDMI.

Though Cox has done a good job keeping a lid on flarePlay, the service’s Facebook page has tallied more than 26,000 “Likes.” The service also shows up on Amazon.com and, at last check, has 11 reviews.

The company won’t announce subscriber figures for flarePlay, but “we’ve seen good response from it so far,” Smith  “We plan to continue to add content to it in the near future.  Video gaming is a very good, big space, and we think there’s an opportunity there.”

Cox isn’t bundling flarePlay with its cable offerings or integrating it with cable set-tops. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find the Cox name on the flarePlay Web site (Green Lane Innovations, a unit of Cox that focuses on and incubates new business opportunities, is the division associated with flarePlay).

“It’s a completely separate brand,” Smith explained.

Still, Cox isn’t the only operator that’s banking on TV-based video gaming strategies. Comcast and Electronic Arts have teamed on a beta trial of a service called XFINITY Games powered by EA that runs on the MSO’s X1 platform. Instead of using a separate gaming controller,  those users control games via smartphones and tablets. 

flarePlay is just one of a growing number of Cox offerings to don the “flare” brand.  In 2013, Cox tested (and later shutdown) flareWatch, an IP-based TV service for cord-cutters that was offered in Orange County. Cox continues to market and sell MyFlare, a Dropbox-like, cloud-based media storage and sharing service.

For more on flarePlay, check out this video:

This video presents a walk-through of the flarePlay installation procedure:

Two recent video distribution announcements about Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's XBOX One show that the video game console makers are determined to play in the video streaming game.

Yet according to a couple of recent media reports, gaming consoles may already be losing the battle to other media devices when it comes to offering streaming video content to consumers.

Sony last week announced it has expanded its rollout of its Playstation Vue streaming television service to all PS3 and PS4 game console owners in Dallas-Ft. Worth and Miami-Fort Lauderdale areas. The two cities join Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco in offering the nearly 90-channel service, which PS4 owners can buy through a number of price-based tiers.

Sony’s move came on the heels of Microsoft’s pronouncement that it will provide a subscription-free DVR component for its XBOX One consoles to allow users to record broadcast TV shows starting in 2016.

The two announcements are the latest attempts for the video game console category to establish itself as a main player in the home entertainment marketplace through the distribution of video content.

But media analysis company nScreenMedia, found that less expensive video streaming devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire Tv and Chromecast are luring casual gaming fans away from the gaming consoles to access online video content like Netflix and Hulu.

The report, quoting recent Adobe Digital Video numbers, says that Apple TV and Roku have grown their share of TV Everywhere viewing from fourth quarter 2014 to first quarter 2015, while game consoles like PS3, XBOX One, Wii and others have remained stagnated during the period.  

Also, the percentage of consumers with video game consoles in their households has declined from first quarter 2014 to first quarter 2015, according to a recent Nielsen Total Audience Report. 46% of households have a video game console compared to 47% during the same period in 2014.

Video game consoles have declined in Hispanic (54% in 2015 compared to 56%) and Asian American (51% to 54%) households, while Black households have remained steady year to year at 47%, according to Nielsen.

One silver lining for the category is that consumers who have gaming consoles are increasingly using them to play games and access video content. Gaming console usage increased to 9 hours and 15 minutes during first quarter 2015 compared to 8 hours and 42 minutes during the same period last year according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report.

Given the competition from various media devices streaming live and on demand video content, video game consoles may have to play harder to win the hearts and dollars of consumers.