If you weren’t one of the millions of cable and satellite subscribers watching great white sharks devour unsuspecting urbanites during the premiere of Sharknado 2 last night, there’s still time thanks to a new app for Microsoft’s Xbox One. SyFy Now & USA Now will allow you to watch the movie and past episodes of Syfy & USA Network’s original television shows at no additional cost.
We say no additional cost because anyone who downloads SyFy Now & USA Now for Xbox One will notice that there is a catch that today’s posting on Xbox Wire also notes. Like streaming video apps from other companies, SyFy Now & USA Now will let users stream full episodes of their favorite shows. However, they both require those users to have a cable or satellite subscription with a cable or satellite company NBC Universal has a deal with. Currently Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon, AT&T U-verse, Cox, Charter, Optimum, Suddenlink, Mediacom, WOW!, RCN and Armstrong are all supported. That’s a pretty stiff requirement considering the growing number of cable cutters, but at least that’s the only other catch to streaming shows through the SyFy Now & USA Now.
Since Microsoft recently stopped requiring that users subscribe to Xbox Live before downloading apps, an Xbox Live Gold account isn’t required to download Syfy Now or USA Now. Syfy Now is already available on the Xbox 360. This is the first time USA Now has been available on one of Microsoft’s consoles.
