Cox Integrates Xumo-Powered FAST Channels into TV Guide, Sky to Follow

Xumo Enterprise, a business-to-business joint venture of Xumo, owned by Comcast and Charter Communications, has partnered with Cox Communications to integrate free ad-supported television (FAST) channels into its lineup, offering customers more high-quality programming at no additional cost.

Cox is the latest MVPD to integrate Xumo-powered FAST channels into its lineup after a milestone integration on X1 and the Xfinity Stream app last year. Xumo Enterprise has been syndicating and serving FAST channels to streaming platforms for years, and the Xfinity and Cox launches are a major evolution in the company’s efforts to make FAST more accessible to consumers on a growing number of connected devices.

Interestingly, Cox’s Contour TV customers can now find 20 of Xumo’s FAST channels integrated into their channel guide. The channels cover a variety of genres, including action, comedy, and drama, as well as game shows, kids’ shows, and reality TV.

Later this year, Sky will also integrate six new FAST channels into the TV Guide on Sky Glass and Sky Stream devices. These channels, which launched last month and offer a selection of previously aired, much-loved programmes from Sky’s extensive catalogue, are currently available on the Xumo Play app on Sky devices running Entertainment OS. By working with Xumo Enterprise to integrate the new channels into the Guide, Sky can offer customers a new way to discover and watch them alongside their other favourite programmes.

These MVPD channel guide integrations are part of Xumo’s ongoing efforts to meet consumers’ growing appetite for FAST. Earlier this year, Xumo found in a study that pay-TV customers watch more FAST than those who had dropped out of cable or never watched it, and that prime-time FAST viewing time is rivaled by gaming, social media, and cable TV.