Yesterday, users on Reddit reported that they were able to add their Philo subscription to the Live Channels app on Android TV. The Live Channels brings together multiple streaming subscriptions into a single grid guide. This can include your antenna, ad-supported streams like Pluto TV, and paid subscriptions like Sling TV.
Philo quickly shared that this was done by accident, at least for now.
Oops, we enabled this completely on accident. We will build a proper integration with Live Channels, but believe it or not, it is non trivial. We’re doing some other work on the player in support of our mobile Android app (!!!) that we need to finish up before we can take on Live Channels.
Again, apologies for the false hope on this one!
Just the thought of Philo being integrated brings up a whole set of new possibilities. First, Philo doesn’t have local channels. You would be able to integrate your locals (via antenna) or potentially through a service like Locast in a single guide. Second, many pair Philo with YouTube TV to get a more compelling channel package. If they both had Live Channels integrations, you wouldn’t need to flip back and forth between apps to switch channels.
The vision is similar to what Sling TV has attempted to build with their Air TV box. As prices of locals increase, they want you to be able to get your locals from your antenna and pair it with cable channels in your Sling subscription. This is also the mission of FitzyTV, which allows you to access all your TV Everywhere Apps from a single grid guide.
So while it doesn’t look like Philo's Live Channels integration is quite ready, the promise of it is just as exciting.