It may not be ready to let users transform the iPhone into a TV remote control as Verizon (NYSE:VZ) recently did, but Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is willing to give its cable TV subscribers what they really want: remote digital-video recording (rDVR) on the iPhone.
Comcast’s first mobile app was introduced to the iPhone and iPod Touch last fall to let consumers view and use the features of their Comcast Digital Voice, Cable and high-speed Internet services in one central location. According to Cathy Avgiris, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager of communications and data services, the app reached more than 100,000 downloads in less than one week, but remote DVR was a feature that consumers were still asking for.
Version 2.0 of the app, announced today, will allow Comcast subscribers to program their DVR on-the-go from the mobile Program Guide, receive push notifications for TV show reminders and sort TV listings by category. It will be available to Comcast subscribers whose set-top boxes have been upgraded to include the myDVR Manager Web-based program guide. Right now, that includes 3.1 million homes, Avgiris said, but Comcast will roll it out through the rest of its markets over the next several months, making the myDVR Manager feature available as an update to the mobile app when the service is live.
Other new features to version 2.0 include push notifications for emails and voicemails, access to external email accounts, ability to identify and label spam and send voicemail and photos as attachments. Comcast said it would bring a rDVR app to BlackBerry next.
Like many pay TV providers pursuing TV Everywhere initiatives, Comcast’s goal is to extend its triple play services to any connected device. Comcast has been amongst the most aggressive cablecos on this front, but satellite competitors Dish Network and DirecTV also advertise remote DVR on the iPhone, where DirecTV claims to have achieved more than one million downloads. AT&T offers its own U-Verse iPhone app, including remote DVR, and Verizon launched Verizon FiOS Mobile for remote DVR on the Android market earlier this year.
what about the rest of the joyal comcast subscribers with smart phones other than the dreaded iphone crud. Don’t we pay the same money? I’d like to get the same service. Totally sucks that we support new subscribers and iphone lackies. Give us the features too!
DISH Network has a free mobile app as well. I work for DISH so I know all about the DISH Remote Access app. It has many more benefits than the Comcast app. With TV Everywhere I have the ability to watch live TV, DVR recordings, and access thousands of TV shows and movies through DISHOnline.com. Not only that but I can do all this anywhere I have internet access, today! Yes, that means I can watch on my iphone, tablet, or laptop-anywhere I have internet access! For more info check out their website or ask me, I’ll be happy to answer any questions.