Why no apps for Roku, FireTV, AndroidTV, etc.?

[wayner92]

There do not appear to be Rogers Ignite TV apps for streaming platforms like Roku, AppleTV, FireTV, AndroidTV, etc.

Comcast has Xfinity apps for many of these platforms so technically it doesn't seem like an issue.  And Shaw used to have an IgniteTV app on FireTV.  And Bell has apps on many of these platforms for their IPTV service.

So why doesn't Rogers?  So that they can rent more boxes at $10/box?

This seems like a drawback to me and may cause me to move to Bell in the future.

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[wayner92]

No one knows whats up here?  Is this a licensing issue?  Rogers subsidiary Shaw has a FireTV app available for their Ignite service: https://support.shaw.ca/t5/tv-articles/how-to-use-the-ignite-tv-app-on-amazon-fire-tv/ta-p/43645

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@wayner92 As a policy, Rogers will not make any comment about unannounced changes to their services, so do not expect any official answer to your question.

Rogers clearly made a business decision not to release an Ignite TV app on any of the major streaming platforms.  However, given that former Shaw customers have access to an Ignite TV app on the Fire TV platform, this now puts Rogers into an uncomfortable position.  If Shaw customers get to keep their FireTV app going forward, how can they not offer it to Rogers customers?

At this moment, a technical showstopper is that Rogers has not yet completed transitioning Shaw customers and their Ignite TV customers  to a common platform, and that means that Rogers and Shaw streaming apps authenticate through different back-end systems.  At some point, the Ignite product managers and senior executives will need to make a business decision again as to whether or not to offer streaming apps to their (now much larger) customer base.

Right now, I would say that we have decent odds of one day finally getting Ignite TV apps on multiple streaming platforms.  However, until those apps get released, it's all just speculation and wishful thinking.

[wayner92]

If this doesn't change in the near future then I may consider switching to Bell Canada.  They appear to have apps for Chromecast, FireTV, AndroidTV and AppleTV.

Bell also appears to sell their boxes for $80.

[noneed]

This is exactly why I, and many people I know, have left Rogers for Bell. I even have one family member who became upset at Bell and went to Rogers and regretted it after a month and switched back.

Xfinity (which owns the technology ignite uses), does not have a Google tv app but does allow other devices like Roku and apple tv. Rogers does not. Why? Simple.

They make more money by renting boxes to you. Plain and simple.

So unless Rogers decides to provide boxes for free, there's no sense ever switching back unless they have an app.

I'm not paying for extra boxes.

[SonicDetail]

If Rogers doesn't come up with an App soon I will switch to just Subscribing to Channels like StackTV via Prime Video and/Apple TV. Aside from some specialty channels it looks like I can get most of the channels in my current Rogers Package and at a better price.

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@SonicDetail wrote:

If Rogers doesn't come up with an App soon....

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https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Rogers-Xfinity-TV/rogers-xfinity-app-for-fire-stick/m-p/538263...

[gmd2]

Yes, why??

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@gmd2 wrote:
Yes, why??

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Rogers does now offer an app for Fire TV.  The problem is that it is not very good.  From a functionality perspective, it is similar to what you get with the mobile app.  It is okay for casual use but is not a suitable replacement for an actual set-top box.

So the reason why Rogers does not offer an Xfinity TV on other streaming platforms (like Apple TV or Roku) could be because those apps actually are good and they want to maintain set-top box rentals OR because they are absolute garbage and not worth the time, effort or expense to support.  I actually suspect it is the latter.

[wayner92]

Out of interest, what is it that you find lacking in the app?  I don't find it that bad - the main thing is that the guide doesn't show enough channels at once.  It doesn't have voice controls as well, but that isn't too surprising so if you use voice controls with the Rogers box that is a pain.

But to just tune channels or play back recordings it is ok. It has the drawbacks of the host device - like remote controls that have the bare minimum number of buttons.  But this can be somewhat overcome using phone apps if you want.

By the way, you can sideload the Rogers Xfinity app on AndroidTV/GoogleTV devices.  I finally got around to doing this recently and it works pretty well - about the same as on FireTV devices.

[wayner92]

Officially there is only a Rogers Xfinity streaming app for FireTV.  But FireTV is just a variation of AndroidTV and you can sideload the FireTV app on GoogleTV/AndroidTV devices, including TVs that have that OS built in.  This works on the GoogleTV streamer, older Chromecast  for GoogleTV devices, Onn AndroidTV devices, Nvidia ShieldTV devices, etc.

Here is a thread on reddit that explains how to do this.  https://www.reddit.com/r/Rogers/comments/1hzr3ve/rogers_xfinity_streaming_app_for_google_tv/

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@wayner92 wrote:

Out of interest, what is it that you find lacking in the app?  I don't find it that bad - the main thing is that the guide doesn't show enough channels at once.  It doesn't have voice controls as well, but that isn't too surprising so if you use voice controls with the Rogers box that is a pain.

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It's pretty much as I said in my previous post: From a functionality perspective, it is similar to what you get with the mobile app.  It is okay for casual use but is not a suitable replacement for an actual set-top box.

I powered off my set-top boxes and tried using just the Fire TV app to watch TV.  The biggest inconvenience is that you cannot pause or rewind Live TV.  It's also a pain tuning to a channel that is 200 channels down in the Guide.  The app is fine for watching recordings or having TV on in the background but there is no way that I would keep the Ignite TV service if the app was my one and only way to watch TV.

The app still looks like a work in progress.   e.g. When setting recordings for a TV program, the Record Options (Just This Episode / Series Recording / Dismiss) are not highlighted so you cannot see which option you are selecting.  (But when you continue watching a recording and are prompted to either Resume or Start Over, those ARE highlighted.). There are other UI bugs here and there... perhaps okay if the app only just launched but it has been around for years.

From time to time, when accessing the Guide, you will get error messages, such as, "There was a problem requesting information for this program.  [...]  Please try again."

One thing that you can ONLY do from a set-top box is to manage which programs are marked Watched or Unwatched.

There is no getting away from renting set-top boxes, and it also really irks me that Rogers imposes such ridiculously high rental fees.  Hardware, that does not even cost $100, should NOT be a $17/month rental.  Rogers is gouging their customers... and since hiking the monthly rental fees by $7, Rogers has done absolutely NOTHING to improve their service.  If anything, it has gotten worse.

[wayner92]

I wasn't aware that you can't pause LiveTV.  That isn't good.  But most of the stuff that I watch, I watch from recorded.

I agree with the UI bugs and the UI doesn't seem made for a TV - the guide should show a lot more channels per page, for instance.

It is because of the gouging that I am getting rid of a couple of my Rogers STBs and will use the app instead.  The boxes are not worth $204/yr ($17x12).  I tend to only watch the sports channels and I have those set up in my favorites.  So that makes it easier to navigate to the channels that I want.