ABC Expands Live App to Four Additional Markets; More to Come
Disney/ABC announced today that it is expanding coverage for its Watch ABC app to four additional markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Raleigh-Durham will join New York City and Philadelphia. However, ABC is limiting access to authenticated customers of select pay services.
Besides the four new markets listed above, ABC says it will expand coverage to Houston and Fresno, where it owns stations, before the start of the fall TV season. It adds that Hearst, which owns 13 ABC stations, will offer Watch ABC in those markets sometime in the coming months.
The Watch ABC app provides access to live and on-demand broadcast video, which viewers can see on an iOS device, Kindle, or some Android tablets. While access was open to anyone when the app first launched, it’s now limited to authenticated Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Charter, Midcontinent, and AT&T U-verse subscribers. Authenticated subscribers in available markets can also stream ABC programs to their desktops or notebooks from watchabc.go.com. That leaves out Dish, DirecTV, and Time Warner customers, as well as anyone who doesn’t understand why a subscription is required for free over-the-air content.
The service allows live streaming of local programming, plus on-demand viewing of ABC’s daytime and primetime shows.
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