ConnecTV app relaunches with a focus on video-sharing

ConnecTV, a mobile application designed to make TV viewing more social, is being relaunched with a focus on video sharing. ConnecTV constantly digests live feeds of 400 channels from all over the US, including all major national cable channels and broadcast stations from the top 55 local markets.

The reboot of the TV industry-backed venture illustrates the challenges that confront independent app developers in the age of Twitter and Facebook. The debut of the new version, which enables people to clip and share six-second highlights of a TV show or televised sporting event, comes in response to consumer disinterest in the initial version, which provided a bounty of information to supplement the viewing experience. "Two-thirds of people just wanted to engage with social media while they were watching TV," ConnecTV Chief Executive Ian Aaron said. "They didn't want to want to see additional content. They felt the additional content was a distraction."