Everyone who’s anyone has an Apple Watch app already, especially in the TV space.
Peel‘s smart remote technology is coming soon to the Apple Watch, while Comcast released its Xfinity TV app on day one. Now, DIRECTV is in the mix.
Available as of last week, the DIRECTV update offers customers (who are also Apple Watch owners) the ability to control the following functions on their HD DVRs:
the updated DIRECTV Everywhere App enables users to remotely control the following functions on their HD DVRs:
- Remote control – Play, pause, rewind, and fast forward recorded content on your TV on any connected receivers within the home.
- View program title, channel and episode details of TV shows and movies, as well as set DVR recordings.
- Navigate the on-screen guide, playlist and menu.
As more cable and satellite providers get into the smart remote market, they will be able to collect data on thousands of remote command per month. We asked DIRECTV how it plans to track and leverage this data. “Our goal with products like the Apple Watch is to simply provide more opportunities for our customers to engage with our service and in turn enhance the value of their overall DIRECTV Experience,” a spokesperson told LostRemote. “We hope to take our customer’s feedback and truly tailor an experience that is specific to the user – there are lots of unique opportunities here.”
Outside of the Apple Watch, Tony Goncalves, DIRECTV’s senior vice president of the Digital Entertainment Products Group, mentioned that the company is planning on even more integrations with wearable technology. A spokesperson told us that DIRECTV would like to deploy on Android Wear in the future. More, DIRECTV expects to develop more task-specific features for wearables as the company learns how people use the nascent technology.
