Boxee Introduces Live TV Tuner, Encourages Users To Cut The Cord

Boxee added Live TV to its services. With this addition, Boxee claims the Boxee Box is the only mainstream set top box to combine over the air broadcast TV with Internet content. With the addition of Live TV, you'll get the ability to edit and rename channels, see social channel listings (including seeing what your friends are watching), the ability to share information about what you're watching with your social networks, and an all-in-one interface that can switch between broadcast TV and the web. The company is also looking into the idea of providing DVR functionality to see if it's feasible.

Boxee Live TV now available for $49 – let the cord cutting begin!

Boxee 1.5 rolls out to Boxee Boxes today and Boxee Live TV tuners have begun shipping!  Order one now for your Boxee Box!

With the addition of Live TV, the Boxee Box holds the distinction of being the only mainstream set top box that blends both over the air (OTA) broadcast TV with Internet content (over the top or OTT). We believe the OTT+OTA combo is the best way to get the most entertainment while paying only for the stuff you want to watch.

If you missed our earlier posts on Live TV / Cutting the Cord, and our Facebook integration – the gist goes something like this: the way we want to watch video has drastically changed over the last 10 years.  We want to devour seasons all at once.  We want to watch the same video on our TV, tablet, phone, and treadmill.  We want to be able to watch in our homes, on an airplane, in our offices, and wherever else we might end up.  We want to bookmark things for later.  We want mainstream shows along with stuff from the web like TED, WSJ, and FunnyOrDie.

The web has given us this freedom.  Cable TV has not.  The web has made it easy and affordable to find what you’re looking for and enjoy it wherever you’d like.  Meanwhile cable’s pushing the same boring interface and charging you even more for it ($75 / month on average) while you’re really only watching 14% of the channels you’re paying for.   There’s a percentage of the population that’s realized this and decided to cut the cord and get rid of cable.

Boxee Live TV is a perfect alternative to cable for them.

Live TV Features

Way better than just plugging an antenna into the back of your TV, Boxee Live TV kicks it up a notch with:

  • Social Channel Listings – We’ll show you what’s on, what your friends are watching, and how many people total are watching a show as you flip through channels.
  • Sharing – Share the traditional Boxee way on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr AND you can now passively share to Facebook using our Live TV Timeline App – turn sharing on and whatever you’re tuned into will post to your Facebook ticker automatically.  It’s easy to switch off too so your friends don’t need to know about your addiction to HSN.
  • Edit Channels - Quickly hide channels from your lineup that don’t speak your language or have pissed you off with bad programming decisions like taking Arrested Development off the air.  Easily rename WNDHCTA 7.2 to NBC.
  • All-In-One Interface – done watching a show on broadcast, easily jump into more episodes from the web. It’s the best of both worlds all on the same remote.

While Live TV does not currently have DVR functionality, we’ve heard your feedback and are examining if we could provide it.  We’ll make an announcement later this year about DVR support if we can make it happen.

Boxee v1.5 Features

Here’s what’s included in the latest version of Boxee (check out pictures here):

  • New UI look and feel
  • Improved search
  • New library screens with simpler filtering
  • Browser Pop-up management
  • Rotten Tomatoes integration
  • On-Device Social Account Pairing

We’ll stagger this release over the next 72 hours like we’ve done in the past so you might not get the update until later this week. Want it right away, check out these instructions in the forums on how to get it.

You can read the full release notes here.

Enjoy and let us know what you think of the new UI after you’ve played with it!

Cheers,

Team Boxee