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Cox flareWatch beta brings IPTV with 60 HD channels, cloud DVR for $35 monthly
While everyone tries to figure out what the future of TV looks like, Variety reports Cox Cable has crossed over to offering internet TV service to customers in Orange County. flareWatch beta testers can buy a Fanhattan Fan TV set-top box for $99 (up to three per household) and sign up for a TV package that features 90 live TV channels (60 in HD) and includes the usual favorites like ESPN / ESPN2, AMC, CNN, Nickelodeon and TNT, with video on-demand coming soon. DVR recordings take place in the cloud, with 30 hours of storage available for each subscriber. There is one notable limitation however, as with cable company provided TiVo DVRs, streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are not available. Cox already offers cloud-based storage under the MyFlare brand name, and Variety also mentions the company plans to expand it with music and game services. Other providers have hinted at offering IPTV options and Comcast launched an IPTV test at MIT, but this is the first one publicly available from a major company. If you live in the area, demonstrations are available at several locations, check out the site at the link below and a preview video after the break.
Cox TV Connect live TV streaming app now available on Windows, OS X
Cox already debuted its live TV streaming app on iOS and Android, and now it's ready for computers. Available as a downloadable app for Windows and OS X, it offers access to 90 cable TV channels, but still has the same restriction as the mobile version in that it only works when the user is at home. Also as usual, users will need the right mix of cable TV and internet packages for access, check for details after the break.
Cox 'Plus Package' brings advanced Trio UI, 500GB multiroom DVR and more HD channels
Cox is ready to make a major leap forward in its user interface -- goodbye SARA and Passport, we won't miss you -- with the newly developed "Plus Package" rolling out in limited areas during Q2 and throughout its service area by the end of the year. For the hardware Cox is bringing a Whole Home DVR solution to bear based on a Cisco 8642 HD/DVR with 500GB (3x more than the sizes currently offered) of storage, and MoCA-connected 1642 HD receivers, which are also necessary to tune to the new HD channels on the way delivered over Switched Digital Video (SDV) in the 860-MHz band. The star of the show however is the new "Trio" program guide (video embedded after the break), a 16:9 interface that spaces out program info over three panes -- channels on the left, programs in the middle, details on the right. TV programs can also be sorted grid-style, by themes, HD-only or favorite channels, while VOD lists titles, box art and detailed info in the three window style. There's personalization for up to eight members of a household, as well as TiVo-style suggestions and related programming searches based on metadata. An exec told Multichannel News the new tru2way-built software started by realizing that "our guides were, in fact, broken" and this all-new approach is a step towards fixing that. Besides the TiVos and Moxis of the world, other service providers with similar setups include DirecTV, FiOS, Dish Network and U-verse and while we'd definitely like to see that middle pane expanded a bit to show more of each title, Cox could be the first cable company offering a set-top box that actually competes with any of them. %Gallery-92661%
EpixHD to appear on Cox next?
Looks like EpixHD may have a second distribution partner soon, Bloomberg is reporting rumors that it is close to a deal with Cox to bring the premium movie network / online streaming service to its network in 2010. Analys reports peg as many as 1,000 FiOS subscribers per day signing up for the channel in its first month there, but that investors are currently focused on the slow progress in expanding to other carriers for Epix. more than a third of them take advantage of the online streaming, we'll see if capped & throttled cable customers have the same response.
