The HBO Max app is now supported by Cox Communications' Countour 2 and Contour Stream Player devices, the privately held cable operator said.

The Contour platform is a white-label version of Comcast’s Xfinity X1 video operating system, meaning voice control features are natively integrated into the HBO Max app. Cox noted that its customers can sign up for the $14.99-a-month WarnerMedia streaming service simply by saying “HBO Max” into their voice remote. The platform will support HBO Max’s movie playback in 4K Ultra HD, HDR 10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. 

Cox noted that the deployment on Contour comes in time for the March 18 release of the next big HBO Max tentpole movie, director Zach Snyder’s new cut of Justice League. Also, yet another WarnerMedia day-and-date feature, Godzilla vs. Kong, arrives March 31. 

Notably, Comcast deployed HBO Max onto X1, as well as the thin-client platform based on X1 tech, Xfinity Flex, back in December. 

Cox has just under 3.7 million remaining subscribers after losing around 215,000 in 2020, according to a recent Leitchtman Research Group estimate. It’s unclear as to how many of those customers use Contour tech. 

Warner Media touted around 17.2 million customers having upgraded to the app-based HBO Max as of the end of Q4—a metric improved no doubt by gaining distribution on X1, as well as Roku and Amazon Fire TV, toward the end of 2020. 

Cox Communications has integrated Netflix on compatible “Contour” set-tops that are powered by Comcast’s cloud-based X1 platform.

RELATED: Cox Goes Wide With New ‘Contour’

Cox is expected to announce more detail about the integration later today, but this customer support page, first spotted by Fierce Cable, notes that Cox customers can now access Netflix from their Contour 2 receivers. Like Comcast’s Netflix integration, Cox’s version weaves the OTT service into search results and is supported by Contour’s voice remote.

However, the current version of Contour 2 does not support 4K, so that part of Netflix’s library is not available to Cox subs on the set-top box. It might only be a matter of time. Comcast recently extended support for Netflix’s 4K library on X1 devices,  starting with the XG1v4,  that can render the new pixel-packed video format.

RELATED: Comcast Streams Netflix 4K Fare to X1 Boxes

Update: Cox announced Monday afternoon the integration of Netflix on Cox Contour nationwide at the Internet Association’s Virtuous Circle Summit in San Francisco.

“Cox has supported Netflix subscribers for years with our high-speed internet service and now we’re improving the experience by adding the Netflix service to the Contour TV guide,” Pat Esser, president of Cox, said in a statement. “Customers want to easily access the content they care about – across sources – anytime, anywhere; we’ll continue to look for more ways to improve the video experience.”

Because Netflix is delivered to set-tops OTT via the public internet, that content is subject to Cox’s usage-based internet policy. Cox recently introduced an unlimited data option that complements a policy in which it charges customers $10 for an extra 50 gigabytes when they exceed their monthly data plan.

RELATED: Cox Nears Launch of Unlimited Data Plan

Cox’s integration of Netflix isn’t a surprise, as it has been adding new features already rolled out by Comcast on its X1 platform on a regular cadence.

RELATED: OTT Becomes A-OK on the STB

In an interview earlier this year, Kevin Hart, Cox’s EVP and chief product and technology officer, said that OTT set-top box integration is “on our near-term roadmap.”

Hart also noted that Cox is working on a cloud DVR product. Comcast offers a cloud DVR service for X1 and has also completed an integration of YouTube.

Cox Communications said 1 million video subs are now on a new version of its “Contour” platform that is underpinned by Comcast’s cloud-based X1 platform.

RELATED: Cox Inks National X1 Deal with Comcast

Privately held Cox has about 4 million video subs, according to NCTA estimates, meaning that about 25% of the MSO’s pay TV base is on the new offering, which features a cloud-powered guide and a voice remote and integration with apps for mobile devices. That's good news for vendors such as Arris, a key  supplier of X1-based set-top boxes. 

RELATED: Cox Goes Wide With New ‘Contour’

Cox said the rollout was its fastest-ever video product launch, and celebrated the Contour milestone this week, hanging a banner at its headquarters to mark the occasion. Its 1 millionth customer on Contour received a free year of video and internet service and an all-expenses paid trip to Disneyland in California.

Cox also shared some other Contour-related stats, noting that 75% of those customer use the voice remote weekly, and that the Contour app, downloaded more than 1 million times so far, now offers more than 85 linear channels outside the home. Contour also offers more than 70,000 VOD choices, more than doubling that amount since 2016. Some 80% of Contour subs use VOD monthly, and Cox has registered about 275 VOD views on Contour since its debut.

Cox also said Net Promotor Scores for the new Contour are 200% higher than for its legacy offering, and found that customers on that platform tend to stay with the MSO longer.

“The syndication with Comcast is going quite well. The teams are working well together,” Kevin Hart, Cox’s EVP, chief product and technology officer, said in an interview this week that will be part of a larger roundtable set to appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Multichannel News. “We just hit 1 million customers on our Contour 2 platform, so that's a big milestone for us. The NPS is up, customer satisfaction is up, and call-in rates and truck-roll rates are down below our expectations.”

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Looking ahead, Hart said Cox has OTT service integrations (Comcast has already integrated YouTube and Netflix on its X1 platform, with Sling TV on deck) and a cloud DVR service on its near-term roadmap.