I went back to Google Assistant and used the community app for HE. I assigned my Sonos One GA devices to my respective rooms within the GH app. Within the GA HE app, I created a temperature control device. I then created a virtual temp device named cable box that has the temperature attribute. I shared this device with Google Home app, then created simple routines for each channel. I can now say "ESPN" and then then GA routine will invoke "set the cable box to 206". This in turn calls the setTemperature method, which Node Red listens for the temp attribute. Within NR, I then use the temp as a channel number and send to my respective IR blaster device. Works great and there is no unnecessary confirmation response!
Something else to note, I have multiple cable box virtual devices for each room, GA does a good job understanding room context despite your devices having similar names ( Living Room Cable Box, Master Bedroom Cable Box, etc).
FYI - there is a channel trait supported by GH, but it is not currently supported in the HE app below.
Here is the Google Home Community HE app.
