Netflix to make debut on Comcast cable's X1 set-top boxes

SAN FRANCISCO -- While they have been at odds in the past, cable giant Comcast and Netflix are joining forces -- the online video streaming service will now be available on the company's X1 cable set-top boxes at some point later this year, Recode reports.

"Comcast and Netflix have reached an agreement to incorporate Netflix into X1, providing seamless access to the great content offered by both companies," the companies said in a joint statement. "We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year. We'll provide more details at that time."

The arrangement announced Tuesday signals an apparent truce between two companies that have been antagonistic toward each other in recent years as they publicly bickered how much each side should pay for delivering Netflix's video to the Comcast's Internet subscribers.

About one-third of Comcast's 22.4 million cable-TV subscribers have X1 boxes. Netflix's presence on the X1 system should give the Internet video service more opportunities to expand its U.S. audience beyond its current base of 47 million subscribers.

In a June research report, Morgan Stanley managing director Benjamin Swinburne wrote that while in this kind of deal he would "expect Netflix to give up some economics," it would "meaningfully alter the direction of Netflix profits over time."