Comcast is taking a stab at the streaming video business with a service named Xfinity Streampix, which will launch on February 23rd. The service will be included for free with Blast!+ and Blast! Extra TV / internet plans as well as most triple-play packages (TV, phone, and internet), and will only be available to cable subscribers. If you don't have one of the higher-tier plans it will carry a $4.99 premium over your existing service.

The cable operator says Streampix will be a separate but complementary service to Xfinity TV, which lets cable subscribers stream a limited selection of shows and movies from Comcast's video on demand offerings to computers and iOS devices. Streampix will differentiate itself from Xfinity TV by maintaining a backlog of shows from previous seasons, although it, too, will be available across multiple devices — with Android and Xbox 360 support coming down the road. Movies and TV shows from NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, and Cookie Jar Entertainment are going to be available at first, though Comcast promises more are to come soon (see below for a list of some of the first offerings).

The new service comes hot on the heels of several large announcements in what was once a Netflix-only market. Two weeks ago Verizon and Redbox announced a joint venture that will see the launch of a new video streaming service in the second half of this year, and Amazon has continued to expand its Instant Video service, which is included with a $79-per-year Amazon Prime subscription. Netflix has been beefing up its own streaming offerings, too: the company's first piece of original programming, Lilyhammer, was released just this month.