Verizon now lets you watch FiOS Live TV on your iOS and Android devices on the go
While Verizon has long allowed their FiOS customers the ability to watch Live TV on their iOS and Android devices, up until now that feature has been relatively limited. Customers were unable to stream stations when outside of their approved Wi-Fi network, severely limiting any real benefits of mobile streaming by severely limiting just how “mobile” you can be with the range of your device. Now however, for the first time, Verizon has begun to change this policy, and has announced that they have begun allowing customers to watch a subsection of their programming on their mobile device’s cellular network.
Verizon has updated their existing FiOS Mobile application, which is now available on both the App Store, Google Play, and now the Amazon App Store for Kindle Fire owners. Unfortunately, customers will at least initially be quite limited as to which channels they can watch. BBC America, BBC World News, EPIX, NFL Network (iPad only, for some reason), HGTV, DIY, the Tennis Channel, Scripps Networks Interactive, Food Network and Travel Channel are all fair game; however, if you were looking for something a bit more, erhm, mainstream you might be disappointed. This is an extremely limited selection considering Verizon currently allows 76 channels, including NBC, CBS, FOX, and ABC, to be streamed live for users watching on their approved Wi-Fi network. Verizon has confirmed, however, that they will begin expanding this program as the year goes on with a growing catalogue of live TV channels.
To help make up for that, Verizon has however begun allowing customers the ability to access the service’s 45,000 “Flex View” on demand content on the go. On top of offering enhanced streaming on cellular connections, Verizon has improved their FiOS Mobile apps in a number of other not too insignificant ways. Most notably, Verizon has combined a few of their existing applications – FiOS Mobile Remote and Verizon Media Manager – with FiOS Mobile in order to create a single application with all the functionality available to FiOS customers.
Sound good? Head over the App Store to download FiOS Mobile for iOS or Google Play to download the app on your Android device. And yes, for those asking – it does indeed feature an Android tablet UI. Thankfully.