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By Andrew D. Smith, The Dallas Morning News
Mar. 8--The airline announces a two-hour delay over the garbled loudspeaker at O'Hare, and you foresee a disaster. You're going to miss Grey's Anatomy.
Or maybe not.
Two of the nation's largest telecom companies just announced technology that will let you program a digital video recorder from a cellphone.
AT&T Inc. has already launched the remote access feature for its Homezone service. Customers with any Web Access Protocol 2.0-compliant phone can view television listings, search for programs and record them.
The service is free to those who subscribe to Homezone, a $9.99-a-month add-on that integrates AT&T's broadband Internet and satellite programming from Dish Network.
Verizon Wireless will begin offering a similar service to TiVo customers next week. TiVo Mobile will work on 13 phone models and cost $1.99 a month.
A third option will come online later this year, when Sprint Nextel Corp. launches its remote programming feature for customers of Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Given that TiVo and other DVR services have long allowed customers to schedule recordings via their computers, some analysts doubt many people will use these new cellphone services. Others gush.
"This is part of the wave of innovation we have been waiting to see in television," wrote independent analyst Jeff Kagan. "This is starting to reinvent the television experience for customers."
You may never miss your appointment with Dr. McDreamy again.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Dallas Morning News
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