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Apple in Talks to Bring 'WatchESPN' App to Apple TV

The Final Nail In the Coffin

The ONLY reason I have Comcast is to watch College Football. So I like the direction of this story. When the day comes when I can sign up to watch ALL the games my team plays......Goodby Comcast.

My Comcast bill is $85/month to watch 4 a few hours every Saturday for 4 months out of the year. So I would be willing to spend about $400 for a "season ticket" to have the same access I have now. A win win for me and some TBD company.
 
GQB said:
I never understand this... why would anyone who has an iPhone use the aluminum remote? The remote app is a great experience, even better on iPad.
Click to expand...

Aluminum remote:
  1. Press desired button.
iPhone as remote:
  1. Press Sleep/Wake or Home button.
  2. Slide to unlock.
  3. Enter passcode, if required.
  4. Press Home button, if another app is currently running.
  5. Flip to correct home screen, if required, to locate Remote app.
  6. Launch Remote app.
  7. Wait for app to locate AppleTV over Wi-Fi network.
  8. Press desired button or perform required function.
 
Not clear about the point of this. You need a cable subscription to receive the content. Why watch it through the Apple TV, when you can just watch ESPN? Remember, you need a cable subscription to receive content through the app.

Maybe it saves on an additional box for another TV in the house.
 
What's the big deal? You can already use "Watch ESPN" on the Apple TV thru Airplay. You have to use the combination of iPad and ATV, but that option is still there

IbisDoc, some of the games on "Watch ESPN" are ESPN3 only games so they are not on regular ESPN channels
 
IbisDoc said:
Not clear about the point of this. You need a cable subscription to receive the content. Why watch it through the Apple TV, when you can just watch ESPN? Remember, you need a cable subscription to receive content through the app.

Maybe it saves on an additional box for another TV in the house.
Click to expand...

In addition to the normal ESPN channels - the app also streams games available only online, such as ESPN3.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Aluminum remote:
  1. Press desired button.
Click to expand...

What the hell kind of "button" do you have on your remote? Is it magic?

This is more like it:

* Press right
* Press right
* Press right
* Press up
* Press enter
* Press down
* Press down
* Press left
* Press left
* Press left
* Press left
* Press enter
* Press right
* Press right
* Press right
* Press right
* Press down
* Press down
* Press enter
* Press left
* Press left
* Press up
* Press up
* Press enter


....and that might be enough for the search to guess by. Maybe.

If I need to add a few more letters to the search, double that.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Aluminum remote:
  1. Press desired button.
iPhone as remote:
  1. Press Sleep/Wake or Home button.
  2. Slide to unlock.
  3. Enter passcode, if required.
  4. Press Home button, if another app is currently running.
  5. Flip to correct home screen, if required, to locate Remote app.
  6. Launch Remote app.
  7. Wait for app to locate AppleTV over Wi-Fi network.
  8. Press desired button or perform required function.
Click to expand...

This is why I almost exclusively use the supplied apple tv remote vs. the remote app. Only time I use the remote app is to browse my local library while something else is playing on the apple tv. Speaking of that, I would LOVE if i could browse on the apple tv while something is playing (music aside which will play in the background).
 
IbisDoc said:
Not clear about the point of this. You need a cable subscription to receive the content. Why watch it through the Apple TV, when you can just watch ESPN? Remember, you need a cable subscription to receive content through the app.
Click to expand...

ESPN3, for starters.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Maybe it's just me, but if Apple is in talks with content providers, it doesn't seem like they will be opening up an App Store-like setup for the Apple TV anytime soon.

After all, if they just turned the AppleTV into a full-blown iOS platform like the iPhone/iPod touch and the iPad, developers would come running to create and sell their app to bring the content to the enduser.
Click to expand...

Wrong. The truth is, individual app developers have no power to grant access to copyrighted video. These are pretty simple apps to build, really. All they do is give you a choice of video streams. The owner of the video is in the driver's seat, and they want money.

Google TV found that out, didn't they?

----------

I downloaded the app, only to discover that my cable provider wasn't listed. Trashed it. It would be great on the Apple TV, and Apple could certainly afford to pay ESPN what the cable providers do.
 
IbisDoc said:
Not clear about the point of this. You need a cable subscription to receive the content. Why watch it through the Apple TV, when you can just watch ESPN? Remember, you need a cable subscription to receive content through the app.

Maybe it saves on an additional box for another TV in the house.
Click to expand...

But ESPN3/WatchESPN has stuff that doesn't air on regular ESPN tv channels.

And FWIW, you CAN NOT use the WatchESPN app if you are not a subscriber of ONLY THOSE specific networks listed. I have a regional cable provider, I do get ESPN and ESPN2 and Classic, but can't use the WESPN app because they don't have some special contract! :mad: I can only watch ESPN3 on my Mac, not on my TV. (well, I have AirParrot but that is sort of a bridge I'd rather not really use.)
 
GQB said:
I never understand this... why would anyone who has an iPhone use the aluminum remote? The remote app is a great experience, even better on iPad.
Click to expand...

Maybe people want to be doing other things on their iPhones/iPads besides using it as a remote? Instead of stopping your flow, changing to the remote app, connecting, doing your action, and switching back to whatever you were doing....

Now, I haven't tried it on my iPad yet (I'll try that later), and I've only had my ATV for less than a week, but so far I've found the remote app on my iPhone more annoying than the provided remote (although I do wish I had though to use my iPhone when I was entering in my iTunes/netflix account information...). Maybe that's just me though
 
That would be great!
I had deleted watchESPN before because it didn't work for Comcast subscribers.

I just found out that as of May 8 it now supports Comcast!

I'm giving it a try. And if it comes for AppleTV, excellent!
 
It seems to me that the cable tv guys are busy pressing the "don't like" button every time someone mentions direct stream instead of cable subscription, it figures. :mad:
 
:)
IbisDoc said:
Not clear about the point of this. You need a cable subscription to receive the content. Why watch it through the Apple TV, when you can just watch ESPN? Remember, you need a cable subscription to receive content through the app.

Maybe it saves on an additional box for another TV in the house.
Click to expand...

This app would be great for me, where in our bedroom the lady and I don't have nor want another cable box to pay for, so with this I could have espn in the bedroom without needing another box. That's one benefit of it for me!

----------
Robin4 said:
It seems to me that the cable tv guys are busy pressing the "don't like" button every time someone mentions direct stream instead of cable subscription, it figures. :mad:
Click to expand...

Yeah 'cuz they send people to macrumors to thumbs down posts because it has a monumental impact. :rolleyes:

Perhaps maybe it's just some people who hate, or those outside the US where ESPN is not a big deal.
 
Swift said:
Wrong. The truth is, individual app developers have no power to grant access to copyrighted video. These are pretty simple apps to build, really. All they do is give you a choice of video streams. The owner of the video is in the driver's seat, and they want money.

Google TV found that out, didn't they?

----------

I downloaded the app, only to discover that my cable provider wasn't listed. Trashed it. It would be great on the Apple TV, and Apple could certainly afford to pay ESPN what the cable providers do.
Click to expand...

Actually, I wasn't referring to indie developers. I was referring to ESPN for this instance: they could create their own app, charge for content, Apple takes their 30% usual cut. Instead of Apple chasing down content providers to build up the AppleTV, Apple simply opens up the iOS platform to it where ESPN, SyFy, OWN, HBO, etc. wouldn't have to rely on cable companies. They get a direct line to the consumer. The MLB app is a perfect example of it.
 
John.B said:
I would like this just for the ESPN3 access during college football season. :cool:
Click to expand...

Me, too. We're thinking of dropping cable TV and going with only Internet, and I'm really leaning towards an Xbox 360 right now to do that. I'd prefer to get it on the Apple TV, so if it happens that'll be great.
 
Why doesn't Apple just make the ATV an iOS device. I know it has been said before, but when the 2nd rev was still a rumor, Apple had just come out with the stand-alone track pad. I figured that would be the interface for using the ATV as an iOS device. Then Apple announced the rev 2 and it was still just what it is.

Seems like Apple could save themselves a lot of R&D money if they just make it an iOS device that uses your TV for the screen and either another iOS device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) or the trackpad as a touch-remote.

Could even make a cheap version that uses a regular hard drive. (Mac Mini as an iOS device!!)
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Aluminum remote:
  1. Press desired button.
iPhone as remote:
  1. Press Sleep/Wake or Home button.
  2. Slide to unlock.
  3. Enter passcode, if required.
  4. Press Home button, if another app is currently running.
  5. Flip to correct home screen, if required, to locate Remote app.
  6. Launch Remote app.
  7. Wait for app to locate AppleTV over Wi-Fi network.
  8. Press desired button or perform required function.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the fact that, at least for my iPhone 4, it's slow to respond, and my wifi is not great. The :apple:TV remote also solves the problem for a family of 4...I don't have to explain where to find the remote app and what to do once it loads...it's simple and get's the job done.

Don't get me wrong, I LOOK for apps to use on my iPhone...I use it all the time, but it's not as convenient as just using the provided remote for this task.
 
reubs said:
Me, too. We're thinking of dropping cable TV and going with only Internet, and I'm really leaning towards an Xbox 360 right now to do that. I'd prefer to get it on the Apple TV, so if it happens that'll be great.
Click to expand...

Except WatchESPN and ESPN3 currently require a cable subscription for access on any platform.
 
BaldiMac said:
Except WatchESPN and ESPN3 currently require a cable subscription for access on any platform.
Click to expand...

Do they require a cable subscription or simply Internet? I thought I read only Internet yesterday (with approved provider) when looking around. I could be wrong, though; it's happened before...
 
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