Xumo, the joint venture launched by Comcast Corporation and Charter Communications last year, says it has forged a partnership with South Carolina-based Element Electronics for a new line of smart television sets.
The TV sets will be powered by a retooled version of Comcast’s X1 platform — which is also called Xumo — that Comcast and Charter continue to develop and deploy on streaming TV devices.
“Element is proud to partner with Xumo to bring an advanced streaming platform to market and offer another smart TV solution to our customers and consumers,” Vlad Kazhdan, the president of Element, said in a statement. “We look forward to building our brand partnership and providing consumers access to amazing technology and content at an incredible value.”
Xumo and Element didn’t disclose precise features of the new TV sets, except to note that the sets will offer ultra-high definition (UHD/4K) video resolution. The companies also didn’t say how much the sets would cost, but did say that they were expected to go on sale later this year at some retail partners across the country.
Prior to establishing Xumo, Comcast already sold its own X1-powered smart TV sets under the XClass brand. Comcast partnered with China-based Hisense for the manufacturing of those sets. Two variants of Hisense XClass TV sets were sold exclusively at Walmart: a 43-inch model and a 50-inch model. On Thursday, both models were listed as sold out on Comcast’s XClass website, which is still online despite Comcast and Charter announcing in November that the XClass brand would be renamed Xumo TV. (Xumo, the free streaming app Comcast acquired in 2020, has been renamed Xumo Play.)
Element primarily competes in the budget space with its low-cost line of smart TV sets. For years, the company has offered Roku-powered models in stores like Walmart, Target and Best Buy. Some older-model Element TVs are powered by Google’s Android TV operating system.
