Philo is adding Chromecast support, one of the company's most requested features.
Sarah Tew/CNETPhilo, a skinny-bundle live-TV streaming service, is finally adding one of its most requested features: the ability to watch with Google's Chromecast streaming devices. But the company is doing it with a bit of a twist. In addition to simply casting video onto a TV, Philo's Chromecast support was developed as a technological precursor to Philo introducing features like social viewing and watch parties between multiple users no matter where they are, the company said.
Starting Friday, Philo's Android app allows casting to big-screen TVs using Chromecast, but it's the first step in what the company is calling Philo Connect. "We wanted to go beyond just Chromecast support to create a better way to seamlessly watch content on all of your devices," Philo CEO Andrew McCollum said.
Philo's Chromecast support was developed as part of this effort to allow for synchronized viewing of the service on all your devices, not just Chromecast, which Head of Product Devon Ray Williams said lays the groundwork for Philo to add social features like watch parties.
Streaming has grown more popular than ever during the coronavirus pandemic, and with people forced to socialize in ways that keep them far apart, these so-called digital watch parties have grown in popularity too. But co-viewing features aren't often built into the streaming services themselves; instead they're enabled by third-party apps or widgets that you tack onto a service.
After Friday's initial launch with its Android app, Philo said it would start adding Philo Connect to more devices, including Apple's iOS mobile devices, its own web service, Amazon's Fire TV and Roku.
Philo, a virtual TV service along the lines of Google's YouTube TV or Dish's Sling TV, offers its live channels for cheaper than most competitors -- $20 a month for more than 60 channels -- by steering clear of sports and broadcast networks, the most expensive ones to license. Instead, Philo offers a seriously skinny bundle of TV networks focused on entertainment, like AMC, Discovery, Nickelodeon and others.
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Philo live-TV service adds Chromecast support -- with a twist - CNET
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