Disney releases streaming apps for iOS

Disney is launching three apps for the iPhone and iPad that give users access to programming previously only available on cable: Watch Disney Channel, Watch Disney XD and Watch Disney Junior, The Verge reports.

All three apps are free and will offer live streams of Disney content for Comcast subscribers after they verify their Comcast Xfinity TV accounts.

According to TV News Check, Disney says the three new Watch products are the first to provide authenticated users with both access to live, linear network streams as well as an extensive offering of advantaged window “on-demand” episodes.

The free Watch apps include a simple, kid-friendly user interface that brings the current online viewing experience to the high-resolution, multi-touch displays of iOS devices.

Once users download one of the Watch apps or visit one of the Watch Web sites, they will receive sign-in instructions to verify their Comcast Xfinity TV credentials, allowing them access to Disney Channel, Disney XD or Disney Junior programmes on their devices.

"We are doing the kids' networks first, but this is where we are heading in the future," Broadcasting & Cable quotes Albert Cheng, executive VP and chief product officer of digital media at the Disney/ABC Television Group, as saying.

"It is a question of getting the deals in place."