Set-top box will soon be a thing of the past as Comcast has launched its new app that is poised to land on Samsung TVs and Roku devices as part of the company's new Xfinity TV Partner Program.
Xfinity subscribers will soon have another option to access their cable TV service without using a Comcast set-top box.
The company is working with consumer electronics device manufacturers through its Xfinity TV Partner Program, according to Mark Hess, senior vice president of Business and Industry Affairs at Comcast Cable. The program will soon enable consumers to gain access to their TV cable service whenever and wherever they want.
The program leverages the open HTML5 standard, enabling manufacturers to implement its Xfinity TV Partner App on their devices. The program also bestows a framework to electronics companies to make it easier for them to bring the app to customers by means of their TVs and other devices.
"This app will provide access to our Xfinity TV cable service, including the Emmy-Award winning Xfinity TV guide, live and on demand programming and cloud DVR recordings," says Hess.
Another interesting thing Hess discusses in the post is related to the Federal Communications Commission's recently proposed set-top box mandate. He calls the mandate as "far-reaching" and "unnecessary" in light of what he calls the apps-based model's success in the market.
To date, the company's Xfinity TV apps have been downloaded 23 million times to a multitude of devices. However, it appears the FCC is not convinced that the app Comcast built is an ideal solution.
"While we do not know all of the details of this announcement, it appears to offer only a proprietary, Comcast-controlled user interface and seems to allow only Comcast content on different services, rather than allowing those devices to integrate or search across Comcast content as well as other content consumers subscribe to," the FCC said.
