Your TV is about to get smaller—at least if you are a Cablevision subscriber with an iPhone or iPod touch.
The cable provider just announced its Optimum App for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new app allows customers to enjoy over 300 channels of live TV, video on demand, DVR management, search features, and virtual remote control. The release comes on the heels of the Optimum App for iPad, which was released back in April.
The hook, however, is that the app only works within the home. So you won’t be able to enjoy all of that functionality while lying on a beach somewhere.
According to the company, customers don’t even need web access to use the Internet access to use the Optimum App. Instead, the company “uses its secure and proprietary cable television network to deliver cable programming to customers for viewing on its Optimum App, and content is not delivered over the Internet.”
The Optimum App is now available for free from the iTunes Store. Cablevision says that the iPad version has been downloaded more than 200,000 times to date.

Should TV manufacturers offer dumbed-down TVs that focus on image quality rather than apps?
Centralized home control and automation plus boatload of A/V options including dropdown theater screen revitalize 12K-square-foot home.
Should TV manufacturers offer dumbed-down TVs that focus on image quality rather than apps?
Say hello to home control in this high-tech palace, circa 2006.