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Mediacom to offer Xumo boxes to Internet subscribers

The company is the first uninvolved party to sign a partnership with the Comcast-Charter joint venture.

The company is the first uninvolved party to sign a partnership with the Comcast-Charter joint venture.

The Xumo Stream Box is the next-generation, streaming-focused set-top box offered by Charter's Spectrum TV and Comcast's Xfinity. (Courtesy photo)
The Xumo Stream Box is the next-generation, streaming-focused set-top box offered by Charter’s Spectrum TV and Comcast’s Xfinity. (Courtesy photo)

Comcast and Charter’s streaming technology joint venture Xumo has signed an agreement with Mediacom that will see the cable television provider offer the new Xumo Stream Box to its broadband-only customers.

The partnership was announced by a Xumo executive during an event at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, which is currently under way in Denver.

At the event, Xumo CEO Marcien Jenckes was interested in forging more partnerships with small- and medium-sized cable and broadband operators to power the streaming video side of their endeavors.

“We aspire to be in business with a lot of you,” Jencks said during the event.

The Xumo Stream Box was formally unveiled earlier this month. The device offers access to top-tier streaming apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Hulu, Peacock and YouTube along with free, ad-supported channels from Xumo Play.

The box also unlocks access to streaming versions of Comcast and Charter’s pay television products, depending on a user’s service area and broadband package. Comcast customers will have access to Xfinity Stream and Now TV, while Charter subscribers will be able to stream live TV content from an over-the-top version of Spectrum TV.

It wasn’t clear what customers of other broadband providers will have access to in terms of pay TV, though prior iterations of the Xumo box — which Comcast called Flex — allowed streamers to watch YouTube TV, Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV.

It also wasn’t immediately known how Mediacom will market the Xumo Stream Box to its broadband users and whether the device will be included with a customer’s Internet service.

Mediacom is expected to continue offering set-top boxes running Xperi’s TiVo operating system for customers who sign up for traditional pay TV service through the company.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

Email: [email protected] | Signal: 530-507-8380