45 OTT TV FILES Android TV
It is fair to say the pairing of 3SS’ 3READY custom launcher with Technicolor’s middleware is the backbone of the project at Swedish cable company Com Hem. Here, the 3READY front end integrates with the middleware, which acts like the engine of the system by bringing together the chipset and the Android TV platform, its APIs and the DVB stack, and enables the 3READY front end to link into all these processes. “As soon as you want to merge OTT and broadcast, then certain challenges arise,” says Jean-Marc Racine, chief product officer of Synamedia. “Broadcast is by far the most efficient way to distribute high-quality content on the big screen, so operators need broadcast security and functionality, like catch-up and PVR, which is where the Android TV model has shortfalls.” Indeed, launching a hybrid Android TV box can take considerable time if you are not careful. “Operators must literally BYOB – ‘bring your own broadcast’”, says Frank Poppelsdorf, vice-president of product management at Irdeto. “What this means is you must have a clear understanding of the work required, find technology partners who have ready-to-go broadcast solutions on Android TV and assign an experienced integration team to get the
CONSUMERS EXPECT THE USER EXPERIENCE ACROSS DEVICES TO BE HARMONIOUS, EVEN SEAMLESS
device certified by Google. If you do all that, you can potentially launch a hybrid Android TV box in three to six months.” Otherwise, you may be in for a nasty surprise. “Piecemealing Android TV together can easily take 12 months or longer, and it won’t be fun.” APP STORE AND UI Perhaps the biggest benefit of Android TV is access to the Google Play Store, allowing fast-tracked integration of third-party apps. The primary driver for adoption of Android TV is easy access to Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime. Vendors can provide all-important UI/ UX expertise. That’s because subscribers increasingly expect the TV content selection and viewing experience to mirror that on their mobile devices. “Consumers expect the user experience as they move from one device to another to be more harmonious, even seamless,” says Blickensdörfer. “They will expect
the array of content to be displayed in a unified way, embracing operator- owned as well as third-party services. At the same time, operators increasingly expect the front-end to do more than just show a pretty picture. They will demand that front-end technologies generate valuable data and enable sample testing of services to assess how viewers will react. Operators must try to mitigate cord cutting by building strong relationships with viewers, which means they’ll consider branding and customisation to be ever more important to galvanise subscriber loyalty.” There are rules though. Google requires the Play Store gets a prominent position in the UI, but operators are generally happy to do this, reports Blickensdörfer. Also, Google asks for a search button on the remote control for Operator Tier. “With Operator Tier, in all the aspects of the UI, you still need to meet very specific technical certification standards that need
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