Two of the biggest cable operators in the United States, Comcast and Charter Communications, have created their own streaming platforms.
Comcast and Charter to Launch a Streaming Service
The two companies announced a 50-50 joint venture to create and launch a next-generation streaming platform on various branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs to reach customers in major markets across the United States.
The platform is yet to be named, but it was revealed that it would compete with streaming platforms such as Amazon's Fire TV, Roku, Google Chromecast, and Apple TV 4K, according to Variety.
Both Comcast and Charter want to deliver a single streaming-aggregation platform available across the United States and not just in their regional operating footprints, giving them better leverage to seal deals with hardware makers, app developers, and retailers.
The JV's expected sources of revenue include e-commerce capabilities and ad sales, as well as distribution deals with third-party streamers.
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Comcast will license Flex, which is its aggregated streaming platform and hardware, to the JV and contribute to the retail business for XClass TVs and Xumo, the free and ad-supported streaming service that it bought back in 2020. Charter will make an initial contribution of $900 million into JV, funder over multiple years.
The joint venture's products will feature hundreds of free content choices through Xumo, which delivers more than 200 individual streaming channels, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Peacock, the streaming service from Comcast's NBCUniversal and Charter's Spectrum app, will also be featured on the JV's streaming platform and all of the top apps from other providers.
The XClass TVs for the streaming JV will be available through national retail partners and directly from Comcast and Charter.
Xumo will continue to operate as a free global streaming service available through the joint venture's products and third-party devices.
Charter will offer 4K streaming TV devices and voice remotes for the JV's unified platform starting in 2023, and Comcast will continue to offer the Flex streaming platform as a streaming device and service to its own customers, according to Business Wire.
Comcast and Charter Released a Statement
Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said that the products they are working on with Charter are all designed to make search and discovery across live on-demand and streaming video seamless and simple for customers.
Watson added that the partnership brings together more than a decade of technical innovation, national scale, and new opportunities to monetize their combined investment.
Charter CEO Tom Rutledge added that their new venture would bring a full-featured operating platform, new devices, and smart TVs with a robust app store providing a more streamlined and aggregated experience for the customers.
Rutledge added that as the video landscape evolves, the venture will increase retail consumer options, compete at scale with established national platforms, and join their existing lineup of options for the Spectrum TV App available on most streaming devices.
Both Comcast and Charter are in the process of scouting for an executive to head the joint venture. The closing of the JV is subject to usual closing conditions.
The venture does not involve the broadband or cable video businesses of either Charter or Comcast, which will remain independent, the cable giants said.
In 2016, Comcast added Netflix to its platform.
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Written by Sophie Webster
