Comcast revealed late last week that it has developed a new Google Chrome browser extension for its Xfinity TV Go website that allows customers to access both on-demand and live-streamed content from more than 50 networks, including ESPN, CNN, Disney, USA, and TBS. The blog post detailing the update emphasizes that users will now be able to seamlessly access World Cup content with the new extension. And although the pay-TV operator doesn’t explicitly mention so in its official press release, Chromecast support is implied by nature of the fact that Chrome users – using an extension that’s still in beta – can mirror browser tabs. It does not appear that Chromecast support has been baked into the Xfinity Go app for mobile devices, however.
Comcast’s new extension for Xfinity GO doesn’t necessarily bring anything brand new to the table – customers already had easy access via any browser to these networks and on-demand content sources before the Chrome update, but the central achievement of the extension appears to be the integration of a more streamlined user interface that allows users to see what’s on and quickly tune in to live streams. In a nutshell, it’s not that there’s more content, it’s now simply easier for customers to access their TV Everywhere content.
Dan Baker, Comcast’s senior director of product management, describes how the extension will function within the Chrome browser. “With the click of a button, the Xfinity TV Go drop-down menu allows you to browse the listing of 53 channels and seamlessly choose what to watch,” Baker says.
At any one time, this aforementioned drop-down menu provides a real-time listing of all the various programs, movies, and television shows that are currently streaming live online. According to the blog post, it appears that it will be somewhat broken down into categories. Click “World Cup” or “College Basketball,” for instance, and you’ll be greeted with an expanded list with each of the individual games that are currently available for live-streaming. And with official Chromecast support naturally bundled in with this new update, users can bypass the somewhat dodgy tab-casting feature and likely get a much cleaner stream to the big screen.
If you’re an Xfinity customer and want to see if all this hubbub is worth a check-out, give the extension a try via Google’s Chrome Web Store. After all, it’s free.
