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Ben Woods
Europe EditorBen is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.
UK broadcaster Channel 4 is now letting Android owners watch shows directly from a smartphone or tablet as they’re broadcast on television, rather than needing to wait and watch it on catchup.
Previously only available to the company’s panel of Core4 trial viewers, the Watch Live option is now available to all, just ahead of the Grand National, the channel’s first live Formula 1 broadcast and the Paralympics in Rio later this year.
Clearly, given the pitching of its sporting events coming up in the future, Channel 4 is hoping that the Watch Live feature will help the channel reach a new, wider audience – one that isn’t just opening the app in the hope that The Big Bang Theory happens to be on.
Strangely, the updated app won’t support playback of recorded shows (though live is still fine) on the Nexus 6P, Samsung S7 / S7 Edge, and Pixel C “due to a hardware limitation.” We’ve asked for more details there.
Just don’t go and try taking a screenshot, because it seems that isn’t allowed anyway.
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