Time Warner Cable adds free Start Over service to WFMJ
The Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN
WFMJ Channel 21 has become the first local television station to get Time Warner Cable’s Start Over service.
Customers of the cable company can now restart a program in progress without any pre-planning or in-home recording device. The service for WFMJ includes local news and select NBC shows.
Time Warner serves the city of Youngstown, most of Trumbull County, the Sharon-Hermitage, Pa., area and parts of Columbiana County.
Start Over is not available on the Mahoning Valley’s other major stations (WKBN-27 and WYTV-33) because Time Warner does not have rights agreements with those broadcasters, according to Heidi Mock, a spokesperson for the cable company.
She could not say when the service will be added to those stations.
Time Warner is the only cable company that offers Start Over. The service is free.
“Our unique Start Over service will provide an enhanced, more convenient viewing experience for our customers watching WFMJ,” said Vin Zachariah, Time Warner Cable’s regional vice president of operations.
“We are excited to partner with Time Warner Cable in offering this new technology to our viewers,” said John Grdic, general manager of WFMJ. “The Start Over feature will add a new level of convenience for our viewers on Time Warner Cable and will give them more flexibility in viewing our number-one rated local newscasts.”
To use Start Over, customers tune to a Start Over-enabled show already in progress where an on-screen prompt will alert them of the feature.
By pressing “Select” on the remote control, the program is immediately restarted from the beginning. Commercials will appear in the same sequence of the show as in the initial telecast. Start Over-enabled programs can be restarted within the show’s telecast window.
In addition to WFMJ, Time Warner Cable currently offers Start Over on 70 other channels.
Some shows on Start Over-enabled channels may not be available with this feature. When that is the case, the Start-Over prompt will not appear on the screen.
Time Warner Cable’s Start Over won the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use of on Demand Technology over Private (Closed) Networks.