Time Warner Cable has developed an app for Panasonic Viera TVs, making it the first operator to bring cable TV content to the platform. The app was being shown off in the Panasonic booth, along with other content providers.
For Time Warner Cable and other operators, TV apps are one way to provide more value to subscribers and to make more streaming content available than what they have in their traditional VOD libraries. And for consumer electronics manufacturers, these type of apps provide more content that their consumers can access on the devices.
Last year at CES, Time Warner Cable announced plans to build apps for Sony and Samsung broadband-connected TV sets. However, those apps have yet to materialize, it’s not clear when the Panasonic app — or Time Warner Cable apps for any other CE device — would make it into the market. TWC Director of Digital Communications Jeff Simmermon told me by email that the company would like to launch apps sometime this year across multiple platforms, but didn’t have any launch timing to share.
Time Warner Cable is just one of many cable operators looking to build connected TV apps. Samsung, for instance, was showing apps from Comcast, Verizon and DirecTV in its booth at CES. A representative said those apps would show up on its platform later this year.
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