Comcast adds AnyPlay live TV streaming to iPad Xfinity app, Xoom coming soon

Comcast just announced that it’s adding live TV streaming to its Xfinity iPad app — the new feature, called AnyPlay, essentially turns your iPad into a secondary cable box and lets you watch any of your channels while you’re on your home network. Once you leave your house, you’re limited to Comcast’s 8,000 hours of On Demand content. (We’d assume there’s a complicated collection of streaming and retransmission rights issues behind that restriction, but it doesn’t make it any less silly.) It’s iPad-only now, but Xoom support is coming soon.

AnyPlay is currently available to Xfinity Triple Play HD customers in Denver and Nashville for free — Comcast says it’s coming to more markets “in the coming months,” and we’ll see if the company decides to charge for the feature when that happens. Comcast also says it’ll add On Demand streaming to the Xbox 360 and Samsung Smart TVs soon, so we’ll keep an eye on that as well.