Cable operator Cablevision is continuing its goal to meet mobile viewers on every possible platform with iPhone and iPod touch versions of the company?s Optimum App application that is currently available for iPads.

This news follows Cablevision?s foray into mobile apps in April with the iPad and signals that video streaming is a hot topic for television networks and operators. The company also announced plans to jump onto other platforms in the near future.

?With Cablevision?s new apps, every Apple product can now stream video in a house, which is huge and a game-changer,? said Corey Weiner, chief operating officer at Jun Group, New York.

Jun Group is not affiliated with Cablevision and only provided third-party commentary for this article.

Cablevision is a leading media company with cable systems in almost 6 million American homes and businesses.

iStream
With the Optimum App, users can stream more than 300 channels as well as video on demand content, guide information and manage their DVRs from their Apple devices.

Additionally, the new apps let consumers use their mobile devices as remote controls.

Since launching in April, Cablevision claims that its iPad app has generated 200,000 downloads.

Cablevision?s iPad app was also the first time that it offered full cable services on mobile.

To use the app, consumers must be Cablevision clients with a wireless router. Therefore, the app does not require an Internet connection.

Cable?s vision
Most recently, Cablevision has been in mobile news for a legal battle with television network Viacom. Viacom claims that Cablevision does not have rights to stream some of the network?s content, including MTV and Comedy Central. (see story).

The news about Cablevision?s mobile expansions represents a growing trend where users are less interested in watching live television and instead more focused on how they can get content untethered to a mobile device.

Specifically, Mr. Weiner points to the advertising opportunities that are now available on Cablevision because mobile users are typically more engrossed in content while connected to their handsets.

?Advertisers can?t guarantee that consumers watch television like they do on their mobile devices,? Mr. Weiner said.

?Advertisers will also be able to pull all their data that companies use from mobile devices to create targeted messages that tap into specific users,? he said.

According to Mr. Weiner, daily deals and local advertising are examples of ways that mobile video will open the industry.

?It?s clear that Cablevision will have abundant competition in the industry because it shows that consumers are now in control of what and how they watch television,? Mr. Weiner said.

?There will be dozens of options for people who want digital content on demand, live TV is important, and as users start to watch television elsewhere they will care less about live television and more about how they get information and when,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York