Apple’s TV app, a consolidated hub for several video services, has so far been a tough venue for virtual MVPDs to get into. But fuboTV has made its way in, making it only the second vMVPD to be integrated.
TV app users on Apple’s mobile and connected TV devices can now access and keep track of what they are watching from fuboTV alongside their on-demand shows and movies. Users will see fuboTV’s video-on-demand content and live sports in the Apple TV app's Watch Now section and can add shows, movies and games to Up Next, allowing them to receive notifications on their Apple devices when their team is playing or a game is close.
Before fuboTV, PlayStation Vue was the only other vMVPD integrated with the Apple TV app. AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Dish Network’s Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV are not yet integrated with the app.
FuboTV said more content will be available in the TV app in the coming weeks, including regional sports networks. In addition to TV app support, fuboTV said that it’s getting Siri compatibility and single sign-on support.
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“FuboTV is a leading provider of live sports programming, entertainment and news, said Min Kim, vice president of business development for fuboTV, in a statement. “That's why we're excited about the fuboTV integration with the Apple TV app.”
FuboTV’s integration comes at a time when Apple, Roku and Amazon are all looking at aggregating video services that primarily center on entertainment content. So, it’s significant that Apple is integrating a vMVPD like fuboTV with a large amount of live sports content.
Min said that adding fuboTV to the TV app is an extension of the work the company has already been doing with Apple, including distributing its app across iOS and tvOS devices. He said that the holdup for some fuboTV content like regional sports networks is not due to licensing and simply said there’s additional work to do to regionalize the content for different markets.
As for why more vMVPDs have not integrated with Apple’s TV app yet, Min said he personally thinks they all may be looking at it as well. But he noted that fuboTV may have been able to move faster since it’s an independent company.