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Verizon FiOS subscribers can now watch live cable television through the FiOS TV app on Xbox One, Verizon announced today on Xbox Wire.
The app is available only in the U.S., and in order to take advantage of it, users must subscribe to both broadband internet and cable television through FiOS, as well as Xbox Live Gold. Up to 74 live channels, depending on a subscriber's cable package, are available through the app, including HBO, NFL Network, MSNBC, Nickelodeon, G4, FX and Comedy Central; you can see the full list here.
No cable box is required to use the FiOS TV app, and it supports both gesture and voice controls through the Xbox One Kinect. Verizon also pointed out on Xbox Wire that subscribers who do have a FiOS box can plug it into their Xbox One's HDMI-in port and use the system's Snap mode to watch two channels at once with the FiOS TV app and the console's own TV app. Today's debut of the FiOS TV app on Xbox One makes Verizon the first cable provider to bring live television to Microsoft's new console.
Verizon originally released a FiOS TV app on Xbox 360 in December 2011. Comcast introduced its Xfinity app for on-demand content to the console in March 2012, and Time Warner Cable put out its TWC TV app there this past summer, but neither company has announced plans for Xbox One apps. For more on these kinds of entertainment apps and whether they support cord cutting, check out our interview with executives from Microsoft and Time Warner Cable.
