If you current needs for streaming content on the Kindle Fire are not really working out there is a new option out there if you're a Cablevision subscriber. Cablevision has now released a revised Optimum app for the Kindle Fire. This app differs from the one currently available in the Google Play Store that simply allows you to control your DVR and browse listings. The new app has a whole new set of features built into it that will make those stuck with the Google Play version a bit jealous:
- Live TV and On Demand – customers can experience the channels they receive as part of their home cable television service, live, when connected to their home network, as well as all the On Demand programming that is part of their monthly service.
- Enhanced User Interface and Channel Guide – customers can review and search through program listings, filter listings across a variety of categories and then choose to watch on the Kindle Fire or use the device to control conventional television sets in the house.
- DVR Management – customers can use the Optimum App to manage previously-recorded DVR content, or schedule new recordings.
- Program Ratings and Recommendations – customers can use the app to rate programs they are watching, and receive viewing recommendations that become more accurate based on previous ratings.
- Parental Controls, Closed Captioning and other options in settings.
Yep, direct streaming of shows and movies over Wi-Fi is offered on the Kindle Fire version. The press release which can be found below makes no mention of an update coming to the Google Play version so alas, Kindle Fire and iOS users are the only ones who get in on this action. Hopefully though, Cablevision will roll out an update to bring all their apps on the same level.
Source: Cablevision, Download: Amazon
Cablevision Launches Popular Optimum App on Kindle Fire
Latest Device To Be Enabled with Groundbreaking App Featuring Complete Array of Live TV and On Demand Programming, Interactive Guide Information, DVR Management and Other Key Elements
Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) today announced the launch of its popular Optimum App on the Kindle Fire. The Optimum App for Kindle Fire allows cable television customers to watch all the channels they subscribe to live when connected to their home network, in addition to all of the On Demand content they receive as part of their cable television service. The app also includes additional features like an enhanced guide, the ability to use the Kindle Fire as a remote control for conventional televisions in the home and also to manage DVR recordings and schedule new recordings, right from the device.
The Optimum App – the first and still only from any cable provider to make a customer’s full cable service available on an array of smaller devices functioning as televisions in the home – is now available on Apple iOS devices (iPad, iPhone and iPod touch), Mac and PC laptop computers and the Kindle Fire. A previous version available on Kindle Fire included guide information and DVR scheduling, but not the ability to watch live or On Demand programming.
“When we launched the Optimum App on the iPad a year ago, we said we planned to bring it to every screen in the home capable of functioning as a television, and now the Kindle Fire has joined that expanding list, our first Android deployment,” said Bradley Feldman, Cablevision’s vice president of video product management. “We are pleased to enable our app on another device in the home, with an emphasis on program discovery, advanced category filtering, and personalized ratings and recommendations, to help customers further unlock the value of Optimum.”
Optimum App for Kindle includes features like:
Live TV and On Demand – customers can experience the channels they receive as part of their home cable television service, live, when connected to their home network, as well as all the On Demand programming that is part of their monthly service.
Enhanced User Interface and Channel Guide – customers can review and search through program listings, filter listings across a variety of categories and then choose to watch on the Kindle Fire or use the device to control conventional television sets in the house.
DVR Management – customers can use the Optimum App to manage previously-recorded DVR content, or schedule new recordings.
Program Ratings and Recommendations – customers can use the app to rate programs they are watching, and receive viewing recommendations that become more accurate based on previous ratings.
Parental Controls, Closed Captioning and other options in settings.
Cablevision customers have downloaded the Optimum App more than one million times so far.
About Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) is one of the nation's leading media and telecommunications companies. Its cable television operations provide a full suite of advanced communications services that include iO TV® digital television, Optimum Online® high-speed Internet, and Optimum Voice® digital voice, all over state-of-the-art cable systems that pass nearly 6 million households and businesses across the New York tri-state area and throughout four Western states. Cablevision’s telecommunications properties also include its Optimum WiFi® wireless Internet, and its Optimum Lightpath® integrated business communications solutions. Cablevision serves the New York area with compelling local content through News 12 Networks, a local news leader; MSG Varsity, a suite of television and online services covering high school activities; and, Newsday Media Group, a business unit that includes Newsday, Long Island's leading daily newspaper, and amNewYork, the nation's most widely circulated free daily serving New York City. The company also owns and operates Clearview Cinemas throughout the New York tri-state area including the famed Ziegfeld Theatre, a frequent and historic venue for film premieres and events. Additional information about Cablevision is available on the Web at http://www.cablevision.com.
