Today I thought I’d share a new app to the Android Play store. The City TV app from Rogers Digital Media. It allows you access to many of City TV shows on the go. Being able to catchup on shows you missed anywhere is great. Of course it does point out a couple of flaws with Rogers Anyplace TV, which is supposed to grant access to their on demand service through the web, iPad, iPhone and even Windows 8 App. The problem I have is that though I can access it from my computer through the web or windows 8 app or even from the iPad when I try to run it from my phone or Melissa’s phone it wont let us because we aren’t with Rogers. So what they are giving away to anyone on the web or IPad, is only for their customers when you try to do it on a phone. Of course it’s worse is that for access from the phone it’s not free:
The application is free to download. For only $5/month, customers can enjoy 5 hours of viewing on their handset (overage fee is $1/hour/month) – any time, any place. This fee is prompted when selecting an eligible title or you can subscribe upfront within the “My Services” section of the application. To unsubscribe, go to “Settings>Account” and click the “Unsubscribe” button.
The above is taken from the Rogers Anyplace TV app description in the iTunes store. Two things aren’t clear to me from the descriptions I’ve read either app store is do they charge more for the bandwidth on 3G? If they do it just that the entire purpose of the service is to rip of customers. First you have a service that is free to Paying Rogers cable subscribers, as long as you do it from a computer or tablet device. Second for there wireless customers they are double charging them, first with a monthly rate and second with data usage. It’s a scam and one that has me thinking that I want to remove myself from the Rogers web of Rogers services that I do use. Of course Bell and Telus have similar double dipping Mobile video services so I’m not sure what choice consumers have.
Enough about other Video apps, let’s return to reviewing today’s app. The City TV app, has a limited focus and that is City TV shows. When you start-up the application you choice your City, and then you are presented with a simple interface with 3 tabs, Latest, Popular and Expiring Soon, these are some great options for your cable TV.
Each tab focuses provides a narrow focus to allow you to find your shows quickly. They seem to work well in the limited testing. I like that it shows what will be expiring so you know if the show you keep meaning to watch is still going to be there when you sit down to watch it.
All shows provides an alphabetical list of all the shows that are available, with a star next to them so you can quickly mark off your favourites, which you can then access from the Favourites list.
Clicking on a show brings up the show screen that has Episodes, Clips and an about tab. Once again it the user interface is simple and easy to follow.
Overall it’s a great app if you want to keep up to date on your favourite CityTV shows. It does seems limited to only some of there shows and most seem to be restricted to the last two episode, but if you are already a fan that’s probably enough considering you wouldn’t want to go more than a week or two without seeing it. Of course there are ads but it feels like less than broadcast tv, so it’s not to bad. One feature I do like is that you can share links to episodes during playback using the build in Android share menu. What get’s sent out is a link to the episode on the web for any of your friends to watch. Of course there are probably geographic restrictions on the video. Though as I browse through the app I’ve come to realise that I really don’t watch much tv anymore, well at least not much from City TV so I’m not sure who useful this app will be.
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