Cable Giants Comcast and Charter Team up in Streaming Devices

Comcast and Charter Communications, two of America’s largest cable companies, said Wednesday they will partner to offer customers set-top boxes for streaming video, using their combined access to better compete with established players like Roku and Amazon.

Connected TVs, which allow users to watch movies and series over the internet, are booming. The growing adoption of streaming services and the growth of advertising on these platforms has made the connected TV market a competitive ground in the struggle for consumer attention.

Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal and operates the Xfinity cable brand, has made a breakthrough in the last decade, developing the X1, a set-top box system that allows customers to stream video, and the XClass TV, a connected TV sold by Walmart. with an operating system developed by the cable giant. Comcast also runs Xumo, an ad-supported streaming app available on connected TVs that allows customers to watch some live TV in addition to on-demand shows.

The companies said the partnership between Comcast and Charter, which owns the Spectrum cable brand, is structured as a 50-50 joint venture where Charter will distribute streaming devices based on Comcast’s technology. Charter will contribute $900 million over the next few years to the as yet unnamed venture.

While Comcast and Charter have a long presence in the connected TV market, the partnership will allow both companies to continue to expand their market shares and make their services more attractive to customers, potentially reducing churn.

Rich Greenfield, a partner at analyst firm LightShed, said the venture could pose a national hurdle for Comcast and Charter, which has been largely pending and has allowed Roku to become the dominant player in the connected TV market.

Mr Greenfield also said the deal should end speculation that Comcast could buy Roku.

“Comcast and Charter have been the gatekeepers of the broadcast and cable network world for the past 30 years,” said Mr. Greenfield. “And they’ve allowed all these tech companies to be the gatekeepers of the connected TV world. And finally, in 2022, these companies are finally waking up and realizing they’ve fundamentally missed this opportunity.”