Charter Spectrum's Apple TV App and Zero Sign-on May Not Arrive Until 2019

[MacRumors]

When tvOS 12 was introduced back in June of 2018, Apple announced a new Zero Sign-on feature, a followup to Single sign-on. Zero Sign-on is designed to let you sign into all TV apps automatically when connected to your TV provider's broadband.

At the same time, Apple said the feature would first work with Charter Spectrum, with support expected to be implemented "later this year," aka some point before December 31, 2018. Charter Spectrum is expected to debut a new Apple TV app that will enable the feature and allow Charter Spectrum subscribers to watch cable content on the Apple TV.

It looks like the rollout of the Charter Spectrum app and the Zero sign-on feature is not going to make that deadline, as Apple today updated its Apple TV 4K page to change some of the wording to reflect the delay.

Rather than stating that Charter Spectrum cable subscribers will be able to watch live channels and on-demand programs with Apple TV "later this year," the page now says that the feature is "coming soon."

Prior to today's wording change: "And later this year, Charter Spectrum cable customers can watch live channels and thousands of on-demand programs with Apple TV."

After the wording change: "And coming soon, Charter Spectrum cable customers can watch live channels and thousands of on-demand programs with Apple TV."

That Apple has swapped "coming soon" for "later this year" suggests the Charter Spectrum app and the Zero Sign-on feature will be coming sometime after 2018, perhaps early in 2019.

Article Link: Charter Spectrum's Apple TV App and Zero Sign-on May Not Arrive Until 2019

 

[Kanyay]

Cool so I don't have to sign in anymore. Sweet! It's like incognito mode. Or like me in a dark room

 

[JTR555]

Another deadline missed by Apple (let’s not forget the long promised charging pad for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Air Pods). Steve Jobs would have had people’s heads for that.

 

[KPandian1]

Starved for rumors, now that 5G is up and running at full speed in all metro USA!

/s

 

[busyscott]

Man, they’re completely ruining any credibility they had left. So short-sited, I predict this will be an underlying issue at the company for years that will be very hard to repair.

 

[IngerMan]

I just cut the TV cable line from Spectrum, I got tired of being ripped off. Too many streaming providers with live local stations for much less cost. I am running Hulu live off the $35 4k fire stick. I had an original apple TV but I can't justify the cost for the new one compared to the competition prices.

 

[AngerDanger]

Rather than stating that Charter Spectrum cable subscribers will be able to watch live channels and on-demand programs with Apple TV "later this year," the page now says that the feature is "coming soon."

Hmm, the text I'm seeing differs slightly…

 

[mariusignorello]

The fact that Zero Sign On isn’t available by every TV provider is absolutely horrible. How hard is it to check that the IP address matches the one issued by the ISP on your LAN? I have a Siri Shortcut set up to do that to remind me to enable my VPN for a certain workflow.

 

[Rychiar]

who does support it? is comcast xfinity not one of the biggest providers? cus they don't either

 

[brian3uk]

No surprise here. Spectrum is garbage. When they took over Brighthouse everything got worse. I even asked the FCC to get involved because my bill was so bad. Bring back regulation.

 

[ChrisMoBro]

Apple needs to go back to their old ways where they wouldn’t announce something until it was ready. Far too many things have slipped behind schedule or disappeared completely (AirPower anyone?). Also, it doesn’t fill me with confidence that they announced the new MacPro and released a load of information and then have been completely silent ever since. If you want to prevent more professionals from abandoning your platform then either keep it quiet or keep us updated. Don’t just announce it and then keep us in the dark.

 

[Dominicanyor]

Big companies should not announce things unless they’re actually going to make it happen when they say it will be..

 

[blacktape242]

with, i thought zero sign on was going to happen shortly.... gezzzz i hate that apple does that...

 

[zubikov]

People still subscribe to cable and then choose watch it through their ATV?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Hmm, the text I'm seeing differs slightly…

View attachment 811506

I assume underneath note 3 tells you: "Unless you want to play any games on your TV."

Eh... I'm a bit too harsh on them. I enjoy HQ on my Apple TV.

 

[bbednarz]

I understand Apple hating is the cool thing to do around here... But doesn't Charter likely play a large role in this? Have we really begun disliking Apple so much that they are higher on the s**t list than the cable providers??

 

[davidg4781]

People still subscribe to cable and then choose watch it through their ATV?

I live in an older house. There are cable connections in only 2 rooms. This would be great so I can watch local news channels or other cable only programming before going to sleep.

It's not a necessity but for an additional service that I probably won't have to pay extra for, I'll use it.

 

[KPandian1]

I understand Apple hating is the cool thing to do around here... But doesn't Charter likely play a large role in this? Have we really begun disliking Apple so much that they are higher on the s**t list than the cable providers??

They are getting there.

 

[BigBoy2018]

Quite a long article to explain the oh so complicated fact that - no longer saying 'coming this year', means it probably won't come this year.

 

[gaspitsjesse]

Hmm, the text I'm seeing differs slightly…

View attachment 811506

Lmao! Is that for real?!

 

[ckelley]

This isn't (completely) Apple's fault, so I don't know why anyone is saying that.

While I can't remember where I saw it, either here or on Reddit, someone had said that support for this feature within Charter had fallen to near-zero in favor of Altice's own in-home solution. Altice is trying to get the same box across all their new cable system acquisitions and this is obviously a "threat" to that.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Another deadline missed by Apple (let’s not forget the long promised charging pad for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Air Pods). Steve Jobs would have had people’s heads for that.

Man, they’re completely ruining any credibility they had left. So short-sited, I predict this will be an underlying issue at the company for years that will be very hard to repair.

Apple needs to go back to their old ways where they wouldn’t announce something until it was ready. Far too many things have slipped behind schedule or disappeared completely (AirPower anyone?). Also, it doesn’t fill me with confidence that they announced the new MacPro and released a load of information and then have been completely silent ever since. If you want to prevent more professionals from abandoning your platform then either keep it quiet or keep us updated. Don’t just announce it and then keep us in the dark.

with, i thought zero sign on was going to happen shortly.... gezzzz i hate that apple does that...

Is it Apple or is is Spectrum Charter that is truly to blame for the holdup?

 

[rcooked]

Vote with your wallet and leave them. I picked up YouTube TV Ana haven’t looked back. Fortunately, it had local channels in my area.

Ridiculous, but I don’t believe this is an issue with apple.

 

[brentsg]

No surprise here. Spectrum is garbage. When they took over Brighthouse everything got worse. I even asked the FCC to get involved because my bill was so bad. Bring back regulation.

Yeah they are total garbage on the customer facing side.

I also got the FCC involved on 2 fronts. I had a static IP for years (like 10..). It was clearly stated on my bill as plain as day until one day it wasn't. They deleted the reference to the static IP, kept the price the same.. then they "discovered" that I was getting a "free" static IP and began to charge me for it.

Then I tried their "no risk" trial of their phone service. They took 3 months worth of botched service calls to get it installed, refused to bury the cable they replaced for reasons... Then when I got pissed and canceled, they offered a $99 statement credit that they never delivered. If all of that wasn't bad enough, they raised my rate like $60/month after voice was removed. The "no risk" wound up being risky because they then claimed that adding and removing voice invalidated grandfathered pricing and there was just nothing anyone could do about it.

Jerks.

But guess what.. I have to keep doing business with them thanks to zero competition.

 

[VelfarreClubber]

Is it Apple or is is Spectrum Charter that is truly to blame for the holdup?

Probably Spectrum. Apple is not creating apps for them.