• by Wayne Friedman , January 2, 2020

Xumo, a free ad-supported video streaming platform, has struck new deals and will now be integrated into Sony and Panasonic smart TVs.

Comcast Corp has reportedly been in discussions to buy Xumo, which is looking to grow its ad-supported TV efforts around next year's launch of NBCUniversal’s ad-supported premium video platform, Peacock.

Xumo is already on TV sets made by LG through that company’s LG Channels, an AVOD streaming service offered on LG smart TVs.

Colin Petrie-Norris, chief executive officer of Xumo, said in press release: "It remains our mission to work with global TV manufacturers, content and advertiser partners to deliver a quality experience for end users; one that can easily become a daily routine."

Overall, Xumo says, it is available in 45 million U.S. households through smart TVs, mobile, web and streaming video set-top boxes, delivering 190-plus channels to U.S. households across 12 programming genres.

Some of its video content includes digital channels such as ABC News Live, PeopleTV, NBC News, Food52, and History, and PGA Tour.

In January 2019, Viacom bought Pluto TV -- a free advertising-supported streaming video service with over 20 million active users -- for $340 million  to boost its overall content streaming efforts.