Comcast has quietly begun to test a YouTube app on X1 set-tops.
For some X1 customers in markets such as Denver, YouTube is appearing in the app section of the X1 guide.
Update: Comcast customers in several other markets also report that the YouTube app is appearing on the X1 guide.
Comcast has started to test the YouTube app on X1 with some customers, but has yet to push forward with an official, commercial launch of the OTT app on its internet-connected set-top boxes.
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At the end of Q2 2017, about 55% of Comcast’s residential video subscriber base was on its X1 platform. Comcast has also inked X1 licensing/syndication deals with Cox Communications and a set of Canada-based MSOs – Videotron, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.
RELATED: Videotron to Use Comcast’s X1 Platform to Power New IPTV Service
Comcast announced plans to integrate YouTube in February, noting then that it would support the full YouTube catalog (as well as the subscription-based YouTube Red service, but not YouTube TV, Google's new virtual MVPD service), be woven into search on X1 set-top boxes, and support the X1 voice remote.
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In addition to integrated search and support for X1 voice remote, Comcast’s implementation also lets users cast YouTube content to the TV using a smartphone. In the YouTube settings section via X1, users can establish this link by putting their phone on the same WiFi network as the set-top and by implementing a TV Code supplied by Comcast on the X1 box.
Like it is for Netflix, Pandora and other internet apps that have also been integrated with X1 boxes, YouTube is being delivered to Comcast boxes over-the-top and will be subject to the MSO’s high-speed Internet data usage policies. The same will be true when Comcast moves ahead with its planned integration of Sling TV.
RELATED: Sling TV to Stream to Comcast’s X1 Platform
YouTube’s library of 4K video will also be available to Comcast X1 customers who have compatible TVs as well as the Xi6, a new X1 box that supports 4K and high dynamic range video.
RELATED: Comcast Starts to Deploy 4K/HDR X1 Box
Comcast’s X1 service is also being set up to provide a curated selection of YouTube content that will be featured on the Xfinity On Demand service.
