Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2019/01/23/spectrums-zero-sign-on-app-comes-to-apple-tv/
Announced last June at WWDC 2018, the Spectrum TV app, featuring Zero Sign-On, has finally arrived, making the Apple TV into a credible cable box substitute for Spectrum subscribers.
Meanwhile:
New York State continues both its lawsuit against Time Warner Cable (now Charter/Spectrum) and its demand that Charter/Spectrum leave the state after revoking its approval of Charter’s merger with Time Warner Cable. The 60 day deadline for Charter to provide a transition plan, transferring Time Warner Cable services to another company, continues to slip as Charter and New York State discuss and litigate both situations.
The most recent article about the status of the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) decision to remove Charter/Spectrum from the state is here:
A very interesting article and very timely as well as I was (or am) about to chop off just my TV service at Spectrum. So this now brings a number of questions to mind such as:
The article doesn’t say how much this app costs nor if there will be a monthly charge for it, does one need to keep the regular TV service from Spectrum or not.
The app for Apple TV is a free download. As for the TV service, you need to talk with Spectrum to find out what they offer in your area. Where I live there is a package that offers internet service along with 125 channels of live TV streaming plus on-demand for about $90/month.
So you don’t know if my current Spectrum TV service in NYC would still be needed or if some new service would be used in it’s place?
Seeing as I only kept Spectrum TV service to have access to PBS NewsHour and I can get that with YouTube and everything else I needed was available with the ATV apps everything seemed to be in place for me to do it-but now…
I don’t really like the term “cutting the cable” but yeah that’s what I had intended to do-but this puts a new kink in that idea.
As a NY State resident in an area that was Time Warner Cable before it was acquired a few years ago by Spectrum, I’ve been following the saga for a while. To get the state approval for the licenses, Spectrum agreed to extend coverage to remote rural areas that TWC was supposed to do but never did. Deadlines were part of the deal but were never met. So even NYC residents like me are riled up about it. And even though probably every other TWC resident is p.o.'d about this.
A majority of NYC residents are apartment dwellers, and few apartment buildings allow satellite dishes or Sling, etc. equipment (not enough room on roofs or window equipment blocks fire escapes). So for most people cable or FIOS are the only options, and Spectrum is the exclusive in my building. When the Apple TV deal was announced I was practically jumping up and down at the possibility of cutting the cord. But after checking what we’d have to pay for the stuff we want to watch, it will be more cost effective to keep the cable package. Some of the options on the cable package are not available on the Apple TV app. My guess is that it is something to do with retransmission rights between Spectrum and content providers. So for the moment, we’re SOL.
When Time Warner Cable was acquired by Spectrum, I thought it couldn’t be worse. But it is.
I’ve been a Charter customer for 20+ years; I have very, very few bad experiences with Charter, certainly fewer that the grumbling I hear from friends with Comcast and FIOS.
Single sign on for the Apple TV is great - no more having to enter in the 16 character passcode for the account - and the Apple TV Spectrum app is really very good (DVR would be a good addition. One thing that is better than the standard cable box is discovering on-demand content.)
In fact, we were having an issue with the TV signal a few weeks ago - while trying to watch the NCAA Football national championship semifinal bowl games, every time that ESPN showed their animated graphic that they used before and after instant replays, the video would freeze for a second or two; it was pretty annoying. By the time of the championship game, the Spectrum app was on the Apple TV, and when the video freeze started again, we switched to watching the game on the Apple TV - and it worked just fine. (Of course we could have used the ESPN app, but that sometimes glitches, too.)
January 29So you don’t know if my current Spectrum TV service in NYC would still be needed or if some new service would be used in it’s place?
In my building, you can have Verizon FIOS. But everyone in my building that switched as well as other friends and relatives that switched, all hated the service and went loony over being repeatedly hit with extra charges. Any outside antennas or dishes are forbidden.
Seeing as I only kept Spectrum TV service to have access to PBS NewsHour and I can get that with YouTube and everything else I needed was available with the ATV apps everything seemed to be in place for me to do it-but now…
My husband likes some premium sports channels, and along with having to pay extra for stuff like HBO, it would not be cost effective for us to drop the cable TV/internet/ phone package we have. But if you can get the channels you want, it certainly does make sense to dump the TV package for the app.
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January 29A very interesting article and very timely as well as I was (or am) about to chop off just my TV service at Spectrum. So this now brings a number of questions to mind such as:
The article doesn’t say how much this app costs nor if there will be a monthly charge for it, does one need to keep the regular TV service from Spectrum or not.
I think that it’s because taxes vary according to location. Some charges, like installation, also vary by area. And since there have been so many mergers/acquisitions among cable companies, including Spectrum, can vary.
New York State has come to another settlement with Charter regarding Spectrum/Time Warner Cable. You can read the details at the link below.
April 22, 2019
Stop the Cap! Analysis: Charter Spectrum and New York State Reach Tentative Deal/
The article’s author makes the point that, despite Charter being inexplicably worse than awful Time Warner Cable, If Comcast moved in to replace lousy Charter, the situation could become even worse. All in all, the ISP business in the USA is horrible compared to most other First World countries. That’s shameful considering that the USA invented the core technologies of the Internet. It’s all about gouging victim customers, what is now easily identified as predatory/parasitic bad business. I call it Crap Capitalism, as opposed to Quality Capitalism which is driven by respect among all concerned.
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