The “second screen” onslaught continues as DISH unveils a brand spanking new Explorer companion app to kick off their CES festivities. Available to Hopper owners tomorrow, the iPad app opens to “What’s Hot” as a launching point to social television discovery and DVR control. Of course, the requisite Twitter and Facebook interactivity is present. Interestingly, DISH has also licensed a variety of real time sports-related data to incorporate into the experience.
As this space shakes out, it’s interesting to see agnostic solutions like NextGuide and Zeebox take on carrier-specific offerings. As a TiVo aficionado, I frequently find myself in their app researching programming… yet have very little interest in sharing that experience online, where the Twitter conversations most frequently revolve around live TV. And now even TiVo has set their sites beyond TiVo-specific set-top solutions as they ramp up the Pique social television initiative to reach a broader audience. For me, also worth discussing is which of these two screens is actually “second” these days.
Looking forward to continuing the conversation at the 2nd Screen Summit here in Vegas with a variety of informed speakers including Alan Wolk of KIT digital and Microsoft, LG, CBS, and DISH reps.
Was great to finally meet you in person Dave!
This Sling Hopper thing is huge – it’s how to finally get TV Everywhere, well, everywhere – not just inside your house.
Gonna piss off the networks more than Hopper
Likewise, Alan – and thanks for hosting me at 2nd Screen!
I got a few topics queued up in my mind which I’ll hit over the next few days, including some quick thoughts and pics of the Sling Hopper. My initial reaction was similar to yours… I see lawsuits.
The CBS censoring CNET thing is pretty serious. Kinda shocked by it actually. Not sure if most people will notice, but sucks nevertheless. I won’t trust them as much anymore…