Comcast is launching an app that aims to revolutionize television live streaming. The new app, Xfinity Share, will allow Comcast users to share important life events such as weddings, birthday parties and vacations via TV, allowing friends and family to be "there," even when they can't be physically present.
Xfinity Share works by live-streaming a video from a mobile device, and beaming it live into a larger screen device. Users can also live-stream and share content to another mobile phone user.
"Share lets users broadcast whatever they see in real time to the biggest screen in the home," said Patti Loyack, the vice president of communications at Comcast Cable. "So now a grandmother in San Francisco can watch along on her TV at the exact moment her grandson in Philadelphia blows out his birthday candles."
In order to utilize the live-streaming feature of the new app, both the sender and receiver must be Xfinity Triple Play customers with X1 DVR capable set-top boxes.
There are only three simple steps to start streaming video content on TV. First, open the Xfinity Share app. Next, choose the option called "Stream Live." Then, accept the notification that appears on the TV screen.
While the Xfinity Share app is now available on iOS and Android, it's currently limited to Comcast customers who are paying for the company's Triple Play package. Comcast also stressed that the ability to share live-streamed content is limited to a single person. It added that sharing pay-per-view events is subject to copyright infringement clauses.
The new live streaming app comes as other live-streaming apps such as Periscope and Meerkat are gaining huge followings. Comcast has emphasized that Xfinity Share is still in the nascent stage and will be offering more new features in the not-so-distant future.
According to the company, the new features will include the ability to share content through email by URL, simultaneously sending content to five people; enhanced manipulation on the live stream with options such as stop, pause and rewind; and storing the live stream content in the X1 Photos App.
