Verizon brings an app store to FiOS TV
Verizon is making a concerted effort to make TV more “social”—as long as your definition of “social” means looking at Facebook, Twitter, and DailyMotion on your TV, that is. The company has announced two new initiatives this week to bring Internet-based content to its FiOS TV service: Widget Bazaar and Internet Video on TV.
While there have been efforts to bring TV online, including Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, and Amazon Video on Demand, Verizon’s IP-based FiOS TV is coming at the problem from the other direction by bringing popular social networking services and online videos to “the biggest screens in [the] home.” The company has already partnered with Twitter, Facebook, and ESPN to create “Widgets,” a sort of plug-in for FiOS set-top boxes can pull data from websites and display it on a FiOS-connected TV. The company plans to provide an open platform for anyone to develop widgets—written in Lua, no less—which can then be distributed via a Widget Bazaar application store.
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