NCTC companies enable Apple’s single sign-on

Ten NCTC cable operators have integrated Apple’s single sign-on technology into their TV Everywhere platforms, with other MSOs in the National Cable Television Cooperative’s 500-plus member collection of small and midsized cable companies likely soon to follow. 

The integration was led by Ohio’s MCTV, which developed the WatchTVEverywhere (WTVE) multiscreen platform that’s also in use by many other cable operators in the NCTC. 

The move is somewhat of the maverick variety in the cable industry, where No. 1 cable operator Comcast has shunned Apple’s solution for simplifying customer authentication in favor of a single sign-on scheme being developed by the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).

RELATED: Comcast shunning Apple TV single sign-on, working with CTAM on open solution

“I am very pleased that WTVE is able to bring the benefits of Apple’s single sign-on to the WTVE affiliated companies and their customers,” said Robert Gessner, president of MCTV, in a statement provided to FierceCable. “Removing the requirement to enter a username and password every time you want to use TVE eliminates a barrier to use, which can only increase both enjoyment and amount of use.”

Multichannel News was the first to report on this story.

Besides MCTV, the other NCTC cable operators using WatchTVEverywhere platforms with Apple single sign-on integration include Comporium, Fidelity Communications, Liberty Cablevision of PR, MCTV, Northland Communications, Service Electric Cable TV and Communications, Shentel, Vast Broadband, Vyve Broadband and Wave.

The announcement was made ahead of the Independent Show, the annual convention jointly produced by NCTC and the American Cable Association, set to unfurl in Indianapolis next week. 

RELATED: Wide Open West joins DirecTV, Dish, CenturyLink as 14th pay-TV operator to support Apple’s single sign-on feature

Apple last year enabled a single sign-on feature for Apple TV and iOS tablets and smartphones, allowing users subscribing to supportive pay-TV services to punch in their username and password just once and have it work for all corresponding multiscreen apps. 

Earlier this month, Wide Open West announced that it would support the Apple technology, joining a group of 13 other pay-TV companies including Dish Network, DirecTV and CenturyLink.