Time Warner Cable said it’s now offering access to Discovery Communications’ TV Everywhere content to customers in the home and when they’re on the go via the TWC TV app.

TWC TV currently supports several platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devices, the Kindle Fire and HDX, Web browsers, Roku, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One and Samsung smart TVs. TWC is also allowing subs to authenticate directly to Discovery GO via the Web and its apps for iOS and Android

Discovery entered the TVE fray late last year with an app that aggregates access to live TV feeds and a VOD vault from nine U.S. networks in its stable: Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel, Velocity, Destination America, American Heroes Channel and Discovery Life.

Time Warner Cable, which is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications, noted that its TWC TV app currently features up to 300 live TV channels and about 16,000 VoD in the home, and more than 100 linear channels and 9,000 VOD titles outside the home.

Time Warner Cable has pushed ahead with a IPTV trial in New York City, Mt. Vernon and New Jersey that offers three different video service tiers to customers who take the MSO’s residential broadband service (its “Extreme” tier or higher).

The trial, seemingly targeted to cord-cutters and video customers who are looking to avoid set-top box fees, centers on the MSO’s TWC TV app for the Roku platform, which provides access to more than 300 live TV channels, plus about 20,000 free and subscription VOD choices from the operator’s on-demand vault. Like Time Warner Cable’s regular TWC TV app for Roku, the version featured in the NYC trial does not support transactional VOD or a DVR features. But Roku does provide those TWC customers access to a platform that supports a massive number of OTT "channels," including Hulu, Crackle, Netflix, and Amazon Video. 

Details of the trial began to emerge late last month. On Monday, TWC announced that it’s offering three different tiers on the Roku platform via TWC’s managed IP network (and not “over-the-top” ):

-Starter TV: $9.99 per month for 12 months, a free Roku 3, and access to 20-plus channels in the MSO’s Starter TV plan, including ABC, CBS, C-SPAN, CW, Fox, HSN, NBC, TBS, TWC News and Univision. A DOCSIS 3.0 modem with Extreme Internet service (50 Mbps down in NYC, where the operator has completed “TWC Maxx” upgrades ) or above and in-home WiFi is required.

-Starter TV with Showtime and Starz: $19.99/month for 12 months for $19.99/month, a free  Roku 3, the operator’s Starter TV plan, and access to the Showtime  Anytime and Starz Play TV Everywhere apps.

-Standard TV with Showtime and Starz: $49.99 per month for 12 months, a free Roku 3 player, access to a lineup of 70-plus linear channels (including AMC, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, Disney, ESPN, Fox News Channel, FX, MTV, TBS, TNT, TWC News and USA), and credentials for the Showtime Anytime and Starz Play apps.

Per the fine print, TWC’s Roku-powered option in NYC expires on June 18, 2016, and is not available to bulk residential customers.  TWC has not announced the monthly rate for the offering following the trial period. TWC is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications, which recently launched a streaming TV app for the Roku platform.

“The TWC TV Roku Trial represents an important step in our evolution, giving customers more ways to view the content they love in ways that work for them,” Peter Stern, TWC’s EVP and chief product, people and strategy officer, said in a  statement.  “This trial will help us build a better experience for our customers, while making cable television programming even more affordable, accessible and relevant to a new generation of consumers.”

Other MSOs have launched or are trialing new slimmed down TV offerings. Charter is  testing a service called Spectrum TV Streamthat starts at $12.99 per month;Comcast is nearing the wide launch of “Stream,”a $15 per month no-contract IP video offering; and Cablevision Systems has launched a batch of packages tailored for cord-cutters.  Dish Network is targeting cord-cutters and cord-nevers with Sling TV, an OTT-TV service that launched nationally in February and starts at $20 per month.

Time Warner Cable is about to kick off a beta trial of an IP-based TV offering for broadband-only subs in New York City, Engadget reported Friday  (October 23).

TWC isn’t commenting on the report, but Engadget said the offering, which would eschew traditional cable set-top boxes, will support a variety of streaming video platforms, though the “focus” will be on the Roku platform, and that the MSO will provide participants with a free  Roku 3.

Per Engadget, TWC’s offering, seemingly for cord-cutters and cord-nevers, would feature a “Starter” TV package for an extra $10 per month, an option that would bundle in Showtime and Starz for $20 per month, and a fuller-freight “Standard” tier with that would cost $50 per month and include Showtime and Starz.

Time Warner Cable has already developed authenticated TWC TV apps (for subs on its regular pay TV service) that run on the Xbox One and Xbox 360, iOS and Android mobile devices, Roku, the Kindle Fire HD & HDX, Web browsers, and the Fan TV box (now part of Rovi) and certain Samsung smart TVs.

The report said customers on TWC’s new video offering for broadband-only subs will let customers stream on up to four devices.

After absorbing heavy video losses in recent years, TWC has seen those number improve in 2015, adding 30,000 in Q2 and shedding 45,000 in Q2. Speaking at an investor conference last month, TWC chairman and CEO Rob Marcus said the MSO has a shot to end 2015 in the black with respect to video subs, but noted that the MSO is "not seeing this mass migration to skinny bundles." TWC is scheduled to report Q3 2015 results on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Pursuing broadband-only subs with slimmed-down video bundles has become a trend among traditional MVPDs. Among examples, Charter Communications, which is trying to acquire TWC, has been testing a service called Spectrum TV Stream that starts at $12.99 per month; Comcast is nearing the wide launch of “Stream,”a $15 per month no-contract IP video offering; and Cablevision Systems has launched a batch of packages tailored for cord-cutters.  Dish Network is going after cord-cutters and cord-nevers with Sling TV, an OTT-TV service that launched nationally in February and starts at $20 per month.

Time Warner Cable said it has added live TV streaming to its TWC TV app for the Xbox One, an addition that arrives about two months after the MSO launched the authenticated TV Everywhere app on the console with access to a library of VOD titles. 

TWC said its free app for the Xbox One currently features up to 300 live TV channels alongside a mix of 8,000 free and subscription VOD titles.

TWC also supports the TWC TV app on several other platforms, including iOS and Android mobile devices, the Xbox 360, Roku players, the Kindle Fire HD & HDX, and the Fan TV box.

The Xbox One does support an HDMI pass-through featurethat lets users view and control their live TV lineup by tethering the console to a set-top with an HDMI cable.

Time Warner Cable has launched its authenticated video app, TWC TV, on the Xbox One, an addition that comes more than a year and a half after the MSO debuted the TV Everywhere app on the Xbox 360 as part of a "landmark" agreement between the MSO and Microsoft that was announced in June 2013. 

TWC TV, offered to Xbox One users with a free or paid Xbox Live account, currently provides credentials subscribers with access to a library of 7,000 VOD titles and integration with the game console’s OneGuide.

TWC is also working on enhancements to the TWC TV app for the Xbox One that will feature live TV streaming. The Xbox One does support an HDMI pass-through feature that lets users view and control their live TV lineup by tethering the console to a set-top with an HDMI cable.

The TWC TV app currently offers VOD and up to 300 live TV channels on the Xbox 360, and several other platforms, including Web browsers, iOS and Android devices, Roku devices, the Kindle Fire HD & HDX, and the Fan TV box. 

Adding an advanced discovery and navigation system as well as an IP-based set-top to its video technology portfolio, Rovi Corp. said it has acquired Fanhattan, a startup that is currently selling its Fan TV products through a partnership with Time Warner Cable.

Rovi said it’s buying Fanhattan in an all-cash deal, but isn’t disclosing the amount. Re/code reported that Fanhattan has been looking to sell in the neighborhood of about $15 million and that investors have put “at least $40 million into different incarnations of the company over the years.” Of recent note, this SEC filing dated March 13, 2014, shows that Fanhattan had sold about $8.39 million of a total offering of roughly $18 million.

Founded in 2010, Fanhattan has specialized in the development of a cloud-powered advanced user interface that blends live TV with video-on-demand and over-the-content that’s matched up with a video discovery system. Under the Fan TV brand, the company has also built a small IP-based set-top box and a touch-based, button-less remote control device. Fanhattan has also developed a Fan TV app for the iPad.

Following a splashy debut of its products and strategy at the D11 conference in May 2013, Fanhattan has centered its strategy on forging partnerships with MVPDs. After connecting with Cox Communications on the MSO’s “FlareWatch” technical trial, which was shut down last fall, Fanhattan followed that with a partnership with Time Warner Cable, whereby the MSO is currently offering live and on-demand content on the Fan TV platform via the TWC TV app. Under that still-active partnership, TWC customers can buy Fan TV box and remote control for $149. On average, buyers are spending about 4 hours per day using Fan TV, according to Rovi. This video posted by BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield shows the Fan TV/TWC set-up in action.

Although TWC does not appear to be promoting the offer heavily beyond this FAQ on the MSO’s website, “Fan TV is unlike what’s out there today,” Mike Angus, TWC’s SVP and GM, told Multichannel News in April soon after the MSO and Fanhattan announced the deal.

But Fan TV’s long-term position with TWC is a bit of a question as the MSO and Comcast move ahead on their proposed merger. Regarding whether the Fan TV service will end for TWC customers after that deal closes, “It is too early to comment on that,” the FAQ reads.

Rovi, which has relationships with a large array of major MVPDs and consumer electronics companies, will be looking to rapidly expand the reach of Fan TV’s platform.

The acquisition also marks an expansion of Rovi’s investments in next-gen video guide and navigation technologies and products, coming about nine months after Rovi struck a $62 million deal to acquire Veveo, a maker of a voice-based, personalized search and discovery platform.

Rovi said Fanhattan will accelerate its vision to deliver next-gen guidance and discovery using cloud, user interface and hardware technologies.

A Rovi spokesman said via email that the company intends to continue to offer Fanhattan’s products, including the Fan TV box, on a stand-alone basis. Rovi is also “very open” to working with the company’s OEM partners should they want to license the platform and build their own solutions. “We are particularly excited about scaling the Fan TV offering with service providers all over the world,” the official added.

Rovi also plans to integrate Fan TV with its existing offerings, “including integrating search, recommendations and conversational interfaces acquired through Veveo for the next-gen user interfaces and user experiences for television and video consumption.” Rovi will also fuse Fanhattan’s cloud capabilities with its own cloud and multi-screen initiatives, but has not established a timeframe on when it expects to complete that integration.

Rovi said “almost all” of the Fan TV employees are joining the company. Fanhattan founders Gilles BianRosa and Olivier Chalouhi will stay on board to join the leadership team in Rovi’s Discovery Products Business Group. BianRosa will report to Omar Javaid, SVP and GM of Rovi’s Discovery unit, and will continue to lead Fanhattan, with that team continuing to report into him.

“We believe the Fanhattan technologies and team will complement Rovi’s advanced metadata, semantic discovery, and predictive analytics capabilities to offer truly differentiated solutions to our customers,” Javaid said, in a statement.

Live and on-demand content from Time Warner Cable’s authenticated TWC TV app will feature prominently during the national retail launch of a new IP video streaming platform from Fan TV that will offer content from a set of initial partners via a small device coupled to a fancy interface, touch-based, button-less remote, and an integrated video discovery platform.

Fanhattan Inc., the company behind the Android-based Fan TV device and platform, said it is pre-selling units on its web site now for $99 during a promotional period, and expects to start shipping product in the second quarter. There’s no set date on the end of that promotional period, but the Fan TV device/remote combo will eventually carry a price of $149, according to Fan TV CEO Gilles BianRosa.

In addition to TWC TV, an app that offers in-home access to more than 300 live TV channels and a library of VOD fare, Fan TV will also boot up at retail with apps from Redbox Instant by Verizon, Crackle, Rhapsody, and Target Ticket, the electronic sell-through service launched by the retailer last fall.

Although Fan TV appears to be another player in a growing market of streaming video devices that include Apple TV, the Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast and the Roku platform, BianRosa said the company will lean on linear, live TV services and its integrated video discovery platform to help it stand out from the pack.

“This is not a box of apps,” BianRosa insisted. “It starts with the discovery of content.”

Live TV, he said, is the “anchor tenant” and “the main use case for this device.”

While Fan TV does plan to expand the number of apps available on its platform (Netflix and Hulu Plus are among those that are noticeably absent early on), the focus will be linking users to content from a wide range of sources, while also looking to integrate live TV services from additional multichannel programming video distributors (MVPDs).

“We can release and push new content and features to it on a weekly basis. This is day one,” BianRosa  said.

TWC, an MSO with 11 million residential subscribers, is the first MVPD to integrate with the product Fan TV will distribute nationally, but it’s not the first cable operator to work with the the company, which was founded in 2010 and has about 50 employees.

Last year, Cox Communications used an earlier iteration of Fanhattan’s platform for FlareWatch, a live TV and cloud DVR service combo delivered over IP to broadband-only customers in Orange County, Calif.  Cox shut down that brief, technical market trial in last fall. 

Fan TV is “in discussions” with multiple MVPDs, BianRosa said, noting that his company and TWC have been in discussions for about a year.

“It’s a very limited level of effort” to get an MVPD on board, he claimed, noting that Fan TV handles metadata management and other backend pieces. “MVPDs just need to connect their video feed with our device.”

Fan TV has not announced plans to have MVPDs lease its device, but during Phase I of its plan it will sell the product only via its own Web site. BianRosa said Fan TV intends to distribute products through retailer partners as well.

Fanhattan, which claims to have 2 million users for its Fan TV iPad app, made a big splash last May at the D11 Conference, announcing its box, button-less remote and platform alongside ambitions to be the “input 1 set-top box” that can seamlessly toggle between pay TV and OTT content via an integrated UI.

TWC, which is in the process of being acquired by Comcast, has bought into the concept. Last fall, Matthew Zelesko, TWC's senior vice president, converged technology group, told Multichannel News that "[t]he prospect of a customer buying a box for $99 and using that as their set-top … as an additional outlet in the house or a house full of those is a really exciting proposition for us."

“The Fan TV experience is a leap forward for the cable industry,” said Mike Angus, SVP and GM, video, for TWC, in a statement. “Fan TV is the perfect marriage of the compelling content we at Time Warner Cable bring to customers with the complementary services available to consumers, delivering both in a rich experience for seamless entertainment. The service leans into the multiple ways that consumers are increasingly watching their entertainment across live TV, VOD and streaming, and pulls them together in an intuitive product.”

Although TWC TV is an anchor tenant on Fan TV, with availability limited to TWC subscribers, Time Warner Cable also supports its TV Everywhere app on several other platforms, including PC browsers, iOS- and Android-based smartphones and tablets, Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Kindle tablets, the Xbox 360, and on Roku devices.

TWC has also developed its own cloud-based UI and is investing in a next-gen video platform based on the Reference Design Kit, the software stack for IP-based boxes being managed by Comcast, TWC and Liberty Global. Last week, TWC announced that Humax will make its first RDK-based device.

Time Warner Cable said it has added 26 more live TV channels to its in-home lineup for its authenticated TWC TV app, which now provides access to more than 300 linear channels and north of 5,000 on-demand titles.

As part of its app unification work, TWC TV is now offered on PC browsers, iOS and Android-based smartphones and tablets, Samsung smart TVs (select models), Amazon Kindle tablets, the Xbox 360, and Roku devices.  The current version of the app lets up to five people in the home access the app on different devices at the same time.

The latest in-home additions (TWC offers a smaller subset of channels that are accessible to subscribers outside the home) include:

-America’s Auction Net SD
-BlueHighways TV HD
-C1R
-CCTV 4 America (Mandarin)
-CCTV News English
-Daystar TV Net (National)
-Filmy
-Gem Shopping Network
-GMA DWLS Radio
-GMA DZBB Radio
-GMA Life TV
-GMA Pinoy TV
-Infinito
-ITV Gold
-Liquidation Channel
-NASA TV
-Phoenix North America Satellite TV
-RAI Italia
-RLTV
-Sundance HD
-TV Asia
-TV5 Monde
-TVB1
-UTV Movies SD
-YouToo
-Zee TV