Hearing that Comcast and Charter — the two leading old-school cable companies — have partnered comes with mixed feelings for most. On one hand, the two serve a huge combined audience and could come up with something great for them.
On the other hand, neither Comcast (CMCSA) -) nor Charter have great reputations with their customers. Seeing the two combine forces is a bit like watching Russia make a deal with China. Sure, something good could come from it, but so could something undeniably evil.
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Both Charter and Comcast use pricing methods that many customers consider misleading at worst, and shady at best. The two cable giants charge all sorts of mysterious fees that aren't in their advertised cable pricing.
If you subscribe to Charter's (CHTR) -) Spectrum service or Comcast's Xfinity, you will pay a Broadcast Television and a Regional Sports fee (the names may vary slightly). And you have no option to back out. When a fee is mandatory, it should almost certainly be in the advertised price, but that's not how either of these companies operate.
The same can be said when it comes to devices. Both Comcast and Charter will gladly rent equipment to customers that they pay for many times over. You can buy your own router for internet service, but if you don't know that the two leading internet service providers (ISPs) will charge you to rent one — a charge that never goes away.
Now, Charter and Comcast have a new product that they developed together, but the way Charter (which has introduced it to customers first) is charging for the new device may outrage you.
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Comcast and Charter introduce Xumo
As cord-cutting has steadily increased each year, Comcast and Charter need to give customers more value for their cable subscriptions. The two companies are trying to do that with their first collaboration, the Xumo Stream Box, a device designed to make it easier for customers to find content.
Xumo puts live content up front showing customers shows from their cable provider while also offering a channel guide. The Stream Box also 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," Comcast shared.
It's a bold play designed to make it easier for customers to find and watch content.
"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," is how Comcast describes it.
But, as is often the case with Comcast and Charter, there's a catch that subscribers need to watch out for.
Beware Charter's sneaky pricing
Charter (Spectrum) has been rolling out the Xumo Stream Box to its customers, and it, too, has a bit of a twist in how it's pricing the device. Cord Cutters News first reported on the company's billing policy that could end up costing consumers.
"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," the website reported.
New Spectrum customers will get the device free for a year and will then have the $5-a-month charge added. They too also face the same issue that the company will keep charging after they have paid the full price of the device unless the customer asks for the charge to be removed.
Comcast plans to give the Xumo Stream Box to new Xfinity Internet customers and it has not shared pricing for existing internet or any cable customers.
