Yesterday Comcast soft-launched the latest version of its Xfinity TV Player app to include downloads from Starz, Encore and MoviePlex on iOS and Android devices.
A spokeswoman for Comcast said in an e-mail this morning that more details would be forthcoming, but the updated version of the app, which launched in March of last year, allows Comcast’s authenticated subscribers to view shows and movies anywhere and offline.
Comcast customers who are linear subscribers of Starz, Encore and MoviePlex can stream and download the video content via Wi-Fi connections, but the content isn’t available internationally.
The obvious plus side to the downloadable content is that customers can watch movies and shows on the various device when they’re not connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot and when they’re out of their home environments. The offline viewing will offer even more value, and perhaps reduce video subscriber churn, when Comcast adds in additional content providers.
The downloads work on Android phone or tablet running Android 2.3 and higher. On the iOS side, it works with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and 4S, the third, fourth and fifth generation iPad touch devices, and iPads. The Xfinity TV Player version 1.2 requires Apple’s iOS 5.0 or later and is optimized for the iPhone 5.
