Xumo Teams up With Target to Offer Hisense Xumo TVs

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 4, 2024--

Xumo, a streaming platform joint venture between Comcast and Charter, today announced it has teamed up with Target to offer Hisense Xumo TVs, a budget-friendly, content-forward 4K UHD smart TV.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241029265477/en/

Hisense Xumo TVs will launch in stores nationwide and on Target.com starting next week. They will be available in 55” and 65” models and be priced at $249.99 and $359.99 respectively.

“The growing fragmentation of content on streaming services can make content discovery difficult – the Xumo TV makes streaming easy,” said Stephanie Cassi, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Xumo. “Extending our reach with Hisense, a top global TV manufacturer, and Target, a premier retail destination and one of the country’s most-trafficked e-commerce sites, is a major win.”

The Hisense Xumo TV's simple and intuitive user experience is anchored by the included voice remote, allowing users to search across hundreds of apps and services at once and find favorites by title, actor or genre. The TV also creates an immersive viewing experience by supporting Dolby Vision ® HDR and HDR10 technology, providing enhanced color and contrast, and enables the pass-through of Dolby Atmos ® from supported content sources when connected to a compatible audio device.

“Launching Hisense Xumo TVs in Target marks an exciting chapter for Hisense USA, as we bring advanced, wallet-friendly technology to more households across the nation,” said Craig Gunther, Head of TV Product Marketing, Hisense USA. “This collaboration between us, Xumo and Target not only expands our reach but also reaffirms our commitment to delivering exceptional value and an enhanced viewing experience for all consumers."

The launch comes just in time for the holidays, giving consumers an opportunity to add an affordable, innovative TV to their gift lists.

Xumo TV’s Growth

The Target launch is the latest milestone in a year of tremendous growth for Xumo TV. With the support of its original equipment manufacturer partners, Element, Hisense and Pioneer, Xumo TVs will be available in nearly 8,000 locations across the U.S., spanning nine national and local retailers including Best Buy, BJs, Meijer, Target and Walmart. Combined, the retailers that sell Xumo TVs represent nearly 75% of all smart TV sales in the U.S.

Streaming Made Easy

In addition to being pre-loaded with hundreds of streaming apps and services including Apple TV+, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, Prime Video, YouTube and more, Xumo TV’s interface is built to solve a growing source of frustration for TV viewers, which is content discoverability.

A recent Comcast Advertising survey suggests over 70% of viewers cannot easily find the content they want to watch on their device, and 65% of viewers are spending more than six minutes searching for new content.

Xumo TV’s UI is designed to get customers to the programs they love faster, while also making it easier for them to discover something new to watch. In addition to the voice remote's quick searching capability, customers can also build their own personalized watchlist of movies and shows from hundreds of different apps and services all in one place with My List.

The simplicity of the Xumo TV experience is made possible by the operating system that powers it. It is the same global entertainment operating system that powers tens of millions of devices from Comcast and its partners across the globe, and brings some of the TV’s best features, like seamless content discovery, voice search and personalization, to life.

About Xumo

Xumo, a joint venture between Comcast and Charter, was formed to develop and offer a next-generation streaming platform for the entire entertainment industry. The company consists of three primary lines of business: Xumo devices, Xumo Play, and Xumo Enterprise.

Powered by Comcast’s global entertainment platform, Xumo devices feature a world-class user interface that includes universal voice search capabilities, making it easy for consumers to find and enjoy their favorite streaming content. Xumo Play is a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service with hundreds of ad-supported linear channels and on demand options that anchors the free content offering on Xumo devices and is also available as an app on other major streaming platforms. Xumo Enterprise is the business-to-business arm of the joint venture, providing content makers, distributors and advertisers with tools and services to make FAST content more accessible.

Target Now Offering Hisense Xumo TVs (Photo: Business Wire)

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A probe into the military's role in the disappearance of four children in Ecuador this month was delayed for almost two weeks, even though police had access to surveillance videos showing soldiers taking two of the children, The Associated Press has learned.

The case of the children, aged 11 to 15, who went missing on Dec. 8 in the coastal city of Guayaquil after playing a soccer, has struck a nerve in Ecuador, with rights groups and the public demanding information about their whereabouts and asking that the case be investigated as a forced disappearance.

The surveillance video was handed in to authorities a day after the children went missing, two persons familiar with the investigation told the AP. But an investigation of the military’s role in the disappearance was not announced until 15 days later.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. The probe only started after the children's families went on local news channels and social media to demand more action from authorities.

The security footage, showing men in military uniform grabbing two boys and driving off with them in a pickup truck, became public earlier this week. The two children in the video are believed to be among the four who disappeared that night.

On Tuesday, four badly charred bodies were found near an air force base in the city of Taura, officials said, and they were looking into whether the bodies could be of the missing children.

Later that day, 16 soldiers from the base were arrested. Investigators said it could take up to a month to confirm if the bodies are of the children because their fingerprints had been burnt off and forensic workers will have to extract DNA fragments from bones or teeth for identification purposes.

The soldiers are due to appear at a hearing next Tuesday, where they are expected to be charged with the forced disappearance of the children, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Gian Carlo Lofffredo said Thursday that the 16 soldiers will also be questioned by a military tribunal and that the patrol linked to the disappeared children had not been authorized by officers at the Taura base.

Ecuador’s police deferred questions from the AP about the videos to the national prosecutor’s office, which declined to respond. The Ministry of Defense and the Ecuadorean army also did not respond to questions about the footage.

Violence in Ecuador intensified in January after a gang leader escaped from prison amid deadly riots. Two days later, members of another drug gang attacked a television channel and interrupted a live broadcast to make demands to the government.

President Daniel Noboa's government has leaned on the military to curb gang violence . However, the military has now been implicated in several abuses, including the disappearance of two children in August in the central province of Los Rios, and the case of a 19-year-old who was fatally shot by the military at a checkpoint on a road in Guayaquil.

Noboa has promised to reduce violence as he prepares to run for reelection in February.

But many Ecuadorians have expressed their discontent as the homicide rate has tripled in the South American country since 2021, and extortion by drug gangs has forced thousands of people to migrate to the United States.

People protest outside the prosecutor's office against the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. The sign reads in Spanish "Where are our children? The four from Guayaquil, Ecuador." (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

People protest outside the prosecutor's office against the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A mural of a child and the Spanish message "Where are they?" cover a wall in protest of the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)