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Virgin Media’s TV Anywhere app is now available on Android, more than a year after launching on iOS. If you use a Google-powered blower you can now stream live TV and watch on-demand shows on it using the app. It also lets you schedule recordings on your TiVo box while out and about, just like with Sky Go.
Unless you’re running Android 4.4 KitKat, that is. A note on the app’s page on Google Play reads: “Please note that Android version 4.4 (KitKat) is not yet supported and you may have problems streaming live channels in home mode on some devices… We are working to resolve this.”
I asked a Virgin Media spokesperson when this would be remedied, and they told me: “We’re working to make it available on KitKat as soon as possible.”
Not playing nice with KitKat means the app won’t work on the Nexus 5, or on any Nexus 4 that’s been upgraded. It didn’t show up in the results when I searched for it through Google Play on my KitKat-toting Nexus 4.
But it works on plenty of other devices, including the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and Sony Xperia Z1. There’s a full list here.
You’ll need Virgin Media’s rather excellent TiVo service to use the app. Virgin Media has also added nine more channels to the roster available through TV Anywhere, bumping the full list up to 90 channels. You can watch 67 of these on mobiles and tablets.
You can also rate shows through the app using TiVo’s trademark Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down appraisal system. It always makes me feel a bit like a Roman emperor passing judgement on a defeated gladiator. (I know, I know, they didn’t actually do that in Roman times.)
The app doesn’t work over 3G or 4G, so you’ll need Wi-Fi. Streaming through your data connection would gobble up your allocated usage anyway, though it would be nice not to be restricted to Wi-Fi hotspots.
Have you tried the app? What do you make of it? Let me know in the comments, or give it a thumbs up or thumbs down over on our Facebook page.
