WSJ: Apple competes most directly with Comcast

From “There Are Five Different Races in Streaming TV. Here’s Where Apple Fits In” ($) in Monday’s Wall Street Journal:

In some ways, Apple is emulating Amazon.com Inc., which competes with Netflix in original streaming entertainment but also runs Amazon Prime Video Channels, not unlike Apple TV Channels. Google’s YouTube is also a player in multiple categories.

Among traditional media players: AT&T Inc. has its DirecTV online skinny bundle and plans to enter the Netflix entertainment race later this year, building off its HBO and Warner Bros. programming. AT&T’s Bleacher Report live- streaming service is part of a crowded sports arena that includes Disney ’s ESPN+, Amazon and the major sports leagues, as well as DAZN, a startup chaired by a former ESPN president. Disney also is a subscription-entertainment player through its control of Hulu and the forthcoming Disney+ service.

Cable giant Comcast Corp., for its part, is offering a Roku-like service to its internet-only customers, and its NBCUniversal unit has a streaming-video business in the works to push its own content.

My take: I can see why the Journal’s Venn diagram pairs Apple with Comcast, but that may say more about Venn diagrams than it does about Apple and Comcast.