DirecTV teams with Miso for social TV app

DirecTV  (Nasdaq: DTV) struck a unique partnership with social TV platform Miso which will allow satellite subscribers with an iPhone to receive content that is synchronized any TV show they watch. 

Miso's iPhone app. Click here for a video explaning the app to DirecTV subscribers.

Thursday's announcement from DirecTV and Miso is noteworthy, since DirecTV is the first U.S. pay TV provider to team up with a social TV platform. Miso competes with Getglue and other startups that allow users to share information about TV shows they are watching in real time, and to chat and receive more information about live TV programming.

Miso said Thursday that it updated its iPhone app to allow DirecTV subscribers with a set-top connected to a WiFi network access content on their phones that is synchronized with any channel they watch on DirecTV.

"Our partnership with DirecTV is a big step toward delivering a truly connected home experience because, for the first time ever, a social TV app will enable viewers to easily share what they're watching, as they're watching it," Miso CEO Somrat Niyogi said in a prepared statement.

Social TV is becoming a bigger area of focus for pay TV providers. During a presentation at The Cable Show in June, Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) CEO Brian Roberts demonstrated how Comcast's next-generation interactive program guide would allow subscribers to recommend programming to friends through Facebook.

DirecTV's partnership with Miso could prompt its pay TV rivals to strike similar deals with Miso and other pay TV startups.

For more:
- see news release
-  the Miso app at Apple's iTunes Store. 

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