Comcast Deal With Netflix Shows Cable Rules in Streaming

Those “House of Cards” binges may soon be going down easier, at least when it comes to how quickly they arrive over the Web. Just don’t ask how much that’s costing Netflix Inc. -- or how much it might one day cost consumers.

After months of talks, Netflix finally agreed to pay Comcast Corp. an undisclosed amount for more dependable delivery of shows and movies. As the world’s largest subscription video-streaming service, Netflix concluded that using intermediaries to transmit its content just wasn’t cutting it anymore. And it couldn’t persuade Comcast to let it connect directly to the cable company’s servers for free.