https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/27/comcast-and-charter-team-up-to-launch-a-new-streaming-platform-for-u-s-consumers/

U.S. cable TV giants have a new plan to stake their claim in the streaming wars. This morning, Comcast and Charter announced they will team up to develop a streaming platform based on Comcast’s Flex and including its free streaming service Xumo, which they will offer to consumers nationwide through new devices and smart TVs. The 50/50 joint venture will see Comcast licensing Flex, contributing its retail business for XClass TVs and contributing Xumo, a streaming service offering more than 200 free channels that it acquired in 2020. Charter, meanwhile, will make an initial contribution of $900 million to the joint venture, funded over multiple years.

The companies say their next-gen streaming platform will be offered on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs — an effort that would put the offering in more direct competition with other streaming device providers that are today eating into cable TV’s market share, like Roku and Amazon. The operators also promise consumers the platform will include a “world-class user experience and navigation,” as well as all the top apps viewers have come to expect.