Xumo, a joint venture between Comcast and Charter Communications, has begun rolling out its Xumo Stream Box to Charter’s Spectrum customers, with plans to bring it to Comcast’s Xfinity homes soon. The Xumo Stream Box is powered by Comcast’s Entertainment Operating System (EOS), designed to simplify the process of finding content, regardless of where it resides. “Xumo is streaming simplified, bringing a live TV experience together with all the top apps,” Charter President of Product and Technology Rich DiGeronimo said of the new device. Xumo Stream Box can be used to find, discover and select content on-demand using voice control.

The Xumo Stream Box joins Sky Glass and Sky Stream as devices powered by the Entertainment OS. “Comcast built the Entertainment OS platform upon open-source RDK technology, which processes 40 million voice commands a day and delivers five billion streams per week across over 100 million Comcast, Sky, Xumo and syndication partners’ devices,” the companies said in a joint announcement.

The Xumo joint venture dates back to April 2022, when cable operators Comcast and Charter unveiled the partnership to launch “a next-generation streaming platform on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.”

“As the consumer exodus from traditional cable continues, the Stream Box is meant to be an end-all, be-all solution that combines inexpensive subscription bundles with an avalanche of FAST (free ad-supported television) programming,” The Verge reports.

The Stream Box will come with third-party streaming apps as well. The Verge couches it as a direct competitor to “Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast and other devices.”

“New Spectrum video customers will get one free Xumo Stream Box per Spectrum household for 12 months,” explains Variety, noting “after that, they can either pay $60 for an outright purchase of the device or opt to pay a $5/month service fee to use it.”

“While Charter is positioning the Xumo box as a cord-cutter deterrent — as a value-add to its cable TV offering — Comcast is looking to use it as a way to enhance the value of its consumer broadband service,” Variety writes. “Comcast will offer the device at no additional monthly cost to Xfinity Internet customers as part of their service.”

For those households, the Xumo Stream Box will replace the Flex streaming device previously used by Comcast. Comcast’s $20 monthly Now TV package will also be available via the Stream Box.