Earlier this week, Comcast and Spectrum announced the long-awaited Xumo Stream Box is now available nationwide to Spectrum customers and coming soon to Comcast customers. The device will integrate the company’s live TV service alongside popular streaming services. The device will cost you $60, but depending on how you decide to pay for the device, you can pay a lot more than $60.
Spectrum is offering two ways to get the Xumo Stream Box. First, you can pay $60 upfront for the box or you can pay $5 a month for it. The catch is after 12 months when you have paid $60 for the player, you must call Spectrum and ask them to stop the $5 a month fee. If you don’t call, Spectrum will keep charging you $5 a month for the streaming player as a service fee.
New Spectrum video customers will get a device free for the first year. After that, it will cost $5 a month. These customers will also keep getting billed unless they call and ask for that bill to stop after the have paid the device off. With the $5 a month service fee, Spectrum says if your device breaks, they will replace it for free.
So if you are thinking about getting this new Xumo device, make sure you know what you are signing up for with the $5-a-month option. As after $60, you can own the device with no monthly fee.
Here are some highlights of the new streaming player:
- Leading with live: Upon startup, customers will see live video playing from the device’s primary video service app such as Spectrum TV, Xfinity Stream or Xumo Play. Additionally, a built-in channel guide makes browsing through subscribed channels a seamless part of the Entertainment OS experience.
- Hundreds of built-in apps: Xumo Stream Box comes with the ability to access hundreds of subscription-based and ad-supported streaming apps, including Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Peacock, Pluto, Prime Video, Tubi, Xumo Play and more.
- Seamless browsing: A curated, content-forward viewing experience that blends AI-driven personalization and human-led editorial recommendations to help customers find something to watch without having to jump in and out of apps.
- Universal voice search: Emmy-award winning voice technology allows customers to discover content quickly from available apps and services with a simple voice command into the remote.
- Favorite lists for every member of the household: WithMy List, customers can create multiple lists of their favorite shows and movies – regardless of where that content lives or how it’s delivered (live or on-demand) – giving every member of the family a personalized destination to quickly jump into what they want to watch next.