Seven years after its original release on iPhone, TiVo's mobile app has finally been updated to support streaming over cellular networks.
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The TV entertainment service's mobile offering previously required users to find a Wi-Fi hotspot if they wanted to stream shows on mobile, but the company has finally decided to allow users to stream live and recorded shows over their cellular connection.
Tech blog Zatz Not Funny! has pointed out that TiVo's approach remains "a bit kludgey" when streaming content over mobile. For example, there's no way to skip ads like you can on TV, although the absence of pre-roll ads should mollify that lack.
Most users will likely just be happy to have the option of watching shows on the go without having to track down a decent Wi-Fi network.
The TiVo app is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
(Via Engadget.)
Top Rated Comments
1.They insert paid streaming channels every 10 channels in the guide, as if they are real channels. We’re talking streaming services NO ONE has ever heard of. Every 10 channels as you browse live TV. This is after I painstakingly removed every cable channel (hundreds) I don’t watch/subscribe to out of my guide. Now it’s cluttered with fake channels.
2. Every time I go to watch TV I have to dismiss a spam pop up advertising an upgrade offer for new/more TIVO boxes. I got the same Black Friday pop up every day for a week. This is on the TV, not their website. It’s the equivalent of having to accept a cookie policy on a website. Annoying.
3.This is the real nail in the coffin, and insane.... they now insert their own pre-roll ad before every DVR recording. A streaming ad that has to load before the broadcast recording on the hard drive plays.
You pay over $100 a month for cable. $300 to buy a TiVo, $15 a month to TiVo and you end up with DVR recordings that start like you’re watching the cheapest tier of Hulu. It’s insane. TiVo provides NO actual content, just a tv guide, costs $3 more per month than ad-free Hulu and has the audacity to serve streaming ads on every show?!
What is even scummier is that their best feature is that the box automatically skips ads on all major shows, so they’re happy to kill all ads that actually support the shows while slipping in new ads that only support TiVo.
I can't remember the last time I actually watched anything on my current TiVo - a Bolt with Lifetime.