With the proliferation of handheld devices, especially tablets, Comcast continues to develop more ways Xfinity TV customers can watch their favorite shows and movies on their terms. Today, Comcast is offering customers yet another choice as we begin to roll out AnyPlay™, a device which enables live TV on a variety of Internet-enabled displays in the home.

With AnyPlay, you can watch the channels that are included in your linear channel subscription through the Xfinity TV app on the iPad®, and very soon the Motorola Xoom™ tablet. This means that while someone else watches a program in the living room, for example, you can watch another show on your iPad from the backyard deck, kitchen or other places around the home.

Here's how it works...the AnyPlay device works the same as any other set top box in the home, but instead of delivering the incoming channel lineup to a television, AnyPlay delivers the lineup to the Wi-Fi router on the home network. The router then distributes the secure video signal to the iPad or Xoom over your home's wireless network. So as long as your tablet is within range of the home wireless router, you can turn it into another television screen.

Currently, we're making AnyPlay available to Xfinity HD Triple Play customers in areas of Denver and Nashville at no additional charge. If you don't live in Nashville or Denver, don't worry, as we plan to add more markets in the coming months. And while AnyPlay is for around-the-home viewing, the Xfinity TV app offers 8,000 hours of On Demand movies and TV shows that can be watched for free, both inside and outside of the home. Soon, we'll be bringing On Demand content to even more devices, such as the Xbox 360 and Samsung connected TVs. Together with AnyPlay , these are all examples of how we're adding more value to your Xfinity TV experience and giving you more ways to discover and watch the content you love in more places, on more devices.

More information on AnyPlay can be found here.

UPDATE 8.15.2012: This initial blog entry (posted in January 2012) referenced our trial customers in Denver and Nashville; those customers were initially able to receive the AnyPlay service at no additional charge.

AnyPlay is now widely available and is currently priced at $10 a month.