Disney faces one of the first big tests of its WatchABC app on Monday, as customers who had enjoyed free live viewing of local ABC stations in New York and Philadelphia on mobile devices will now need to show they are pay TV subscribers. The app also launches Monday in four new markets, where use will likewise be limited to pay TV subscribers: Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Since the middle of May, anyone who downloaded the app in New York and Philadelphia could catch live local broadcasts from Disney-owned ABC stations WABC and WPVI on iPhones, iPads and Kindle Fires. Now they’ll have to enter the username and passwords they use to access online tools from their cable TV provider. Participating providers are Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Charter, Midcontinent and AT&T. Customers who don’t have a pay TV subscription or get service from a different provider will not be able to watch live programs on the app.
Read the full story at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, via the Associated Press.