Optimum today released an app for iPhone and iPod touch which will allow Cablevision users in the US to watch and control their content from home on the 3.5-inch screen. Users of home VPN solutions will be able to take these services on the road with them as well.
Besides the iPhone and iPod touch functionality, Optimum’s iPad app also gets the following updates: • Ability to schedule and manage DVR Plus recordings • Your favorite channels (“Favorites”) now automatically appear in the Optimum App on all of your devices • Parental controls automatically get re-applied when the Optimum App is re-installed – no need to re-setup your parental controls • Use your device as a remote control and control your iO digital cable boxes
“We are also pleased to maximize the value of our Optimum App as a navigation and programming discovery tool by incorporating controls for home TVs as well. The introduction of this remote control functionality will make it even easier for our customers to locate and view all of the content they already receive as part of their television subscription, whether they want to watch on conventional TVs or these Apple devices.”
Optimum began full in-house iPad streaming in April but was subsequently sued by Viacom and others.
Full release below:
CABLEVISION FIRST TO EXTEND FULL CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE TO IN-HOME iPHONE AND iPOD TOUCH DEVICES
Following Successful Launch of the Optimum App for iPad, Cablevision Customers Can Now Experience Hundreds of Channels of Live Television, Thousands of Titles of Video On Demand And Other Features on All Three Devices
Applications For iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Now Include Remote Control Functionality For TVs In The Home – Enhancing The Programming Search And Guide Experience
BETHPAGE, NY, August 9, 2011 – Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) today announced the launch of a new Optimum App for iPhone and iPod touch that delivers the full cable television experience on these devices in the home, extending the innovative functionality that debuted in April with the Optimum App for iPad. Cablevision customers can now enjoy more than 300 channels of live TV and thousands of titles of video on demand (VOD) on all three devices, in addition to DVR management, interactive guide information and search. And, for the first time, customers can use the app on all three devices as a virtual remote control for conventional TVs in the home, maximizing its value as a discovery and navigation tool.
Cablevision was the first company to offer its full cable television service on an iPad in the home and now becomes the first to extend this functionality to the iPhone and iPod touch.
The Optimum App is available free in the Apple App Store. Customers who have already downloaded a previous version of the Optimum App for iPhone and iPod touch, which did not include access to live TV, VOD content or remote control functionality, can easily update to the new and full-featured version. In just four months, Optimum App for iPad had been downloaded more than 200,000 times.
“Our new Optimum App for iPhone and iPod touch extends Cablevision’s leadership in offering our full cable television service on new devices, functioning as televisions in the home,” said John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s executive vice president of product management.
Cablevision uses its secure and proprietary cable television network to deliver cable programming to customers for viewing on its Optimum App, and content is not delivered over the Internet. Customers do not need to have Internet access to use the Optimum App.
The Optimum App turns these display devices into additional televisions in the home, enabling Cablevision customers to view the same live programming and VOD content already being delivered to other TVs in the home as part of the service they have paid for. Cablevision has the right to distribute programming over its cable system to in-home iPhones, iPods, iPads and other devices functioning as televisions under its existing distribution agreements with programming providers.
