TiVo has indicated it will enter the North American smart television set market, announcing a “multi-year, multi-million-unit agreement” with Sharp that will see sets start to ship in 2024 beginning in Europe. The move to populate the TV ecosystem with hardware running Xperi’s TiVo OS pits the company against an entrenched group of smart TV competitors that includes Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Google TV, Roku, Samsung Tizen and LG Electronics’ webOS. Added to those is the Comcast and Charter Communications Xumo brand, and also Telly, which offers free TVs supported by ads. Continue reading Xperi Advances Its Plan for TiVo OS Smart TVs in Sharp Deal

Netflix continues to expand its game ecosystem. The company released a TV game controller for iOS devices earlier this month and has just begun beta testing its game streaming on TVs in Canada and the UK, with plans to begin tests for computer play in the coming weeks. Participating in the tests are partner devices including Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart Onn, with plans for more manufacturers to be added on an ongoing basis. Continue reading Netflix Beta Tests Its Game Streaming on TVs and Computers

YouTube TV is bundling Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max with its own NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market football package. YouTube parent Google entered into an exclusive, seven-year deal to offer the NFL Sunday Ticket package through YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels, beginning with the 2023 season. Max has become a Sunday Ticket partner as part of a broader deal with WBD that includes getting Google TV behind WBD’s relaunch of HBO as Max. Philipp Schindler, chief business officer for Alphabet and Google, shared news of the promos with analysts during his company’s Q2 earnings call. Continue reading YouTube TV Will Bundle WBD’s Max with NFL Sunday Ticket

Google is debuting a Shop tab that lets users purchase or rent movies directly through the Android TV platform. The Shop tab, which effectively replaces the Google Play Movies & TV smartphone app, was recently introduced to Android TV devices in the U.S. and will roll out to a reported 23 other countries over the next few weeks. In addition to providing browse and purchase capabilities via Android TV, the Shop feature is also a content management platform. Purchases and existing programming from Android TV and Google TV devices, the Google TV mobile app and YouTube will be organized in the Library under the Shop tab. Continue reading Android TV Shop Offers Sales, Rental, Content Management

Google TV is launching a new TV experience with more than 800 free live TV channels across multiple providers as part of the smart TV operating system for Chromecast devices and various TVs. Included are news channels from NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX, along with stations featuring popular shows like “The Walking Dead,” “Westworld” and “Law & Order: SVU.” New streaming channels Tubi, Plex and Haystack News will be integrated and showcased in a redesigned Live tab programming guide. The new content will be positioned alongside Google TV’s existing channel lineup from free streamer Pluto TV. Continue reading Google TV Expands Free Live Channels and Revamps Guide

Smart TVs were among the hottest products of CES. One set that seemed to generate raves all-around was TCL’s 98-inch 4K QLED with Dolby Vision HDR and Google TV. The unit features a built-in subwoofer, powerful Mini-LED backlight system and more than 2,300 dimming zones. During the show, TCL announced it was readying its first QD-OLED TV and committing to Samsung Display panels. However, the company later explained that a line in the “press release confirming plans to launch the brand’s first QD-OLED television this year was incorrectly included.” TCL, which said it will be “focused” on Mini-LED this year, showed a range of compelling TV tech. Continue reading CES: TCL Expands TV Lines, 98-Inch 4K QLED Model Is a Hit

Cinedigm, a streaming firm that debuted its Cineverse platform this summer, is introducing the ability to rent fresh theatrical films via a partnership with ROW8, a subscription-free cinema OTT service launched in 2018. Cinedigm says the partnership allows it to market content on Cineverse that’s “still in theaters” via TVOD (transactional video on-demand). The agreement is reciprocal, with ROW8 able to offer Cinedigm’s own upcoming theatrical releases to Android and iOS, Apple TV, Google TV, Roku players, Vizio and other mobile devices. Cinedigm claims to be platform agnostic. Continue reading Cinedigm Teams with ROW8 to Bring ‘Still in Theaters’ to TV

With research showing TVs are the biggest growth platform for YouTube Shorts, the streamer is rolling out its purpose-built player for HDTVs worldwide, starting this month. The YouTube Shorts on TV player will work with recent-model smart TVs, game consoles and streaming devices such as Roku and Google’s Chromecast. Users will now see a “Shorts shelf” on the homepage of their YouTube TV app, or the Shorts can be launched directly from a creator’s channel. YouTube Shorts are seen on about 1.5 billion mobile devices monthly, and this move is designed to increase views. Continue reading New YouTube Shorts Feature Is Optimized for HDTV Screens

Google has redesigned its Family Link experience, launched five years ago to help keep children safe online. The most popular tools — screen time limits, blocking apps and content filters — are now easier to find, and there is a central place for viewing requests and notifications. A Controls tab has been added, enabling parents to set screen time limits for individual devices or specific apps, dial-in content restrictions and manage data permissions. With families in mind, Google is also adding new AI-powered features to Google TV, such as parent-controlled watchlists. Continue reading Google Makes Family Link and Google TV More Child-Friendly

Netflix beat Q3 expectations, adding more than 2.4 million subscribers, more than twice the StreetAccount projection. The majority of growth was generated in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for an additional 1.43 million paid accounts, while North America increased by 100,000. Improvements on the top and bottom lines sent Netflix shares surging more than 14 percent after Tuesday’s bell. Revenue was $7.93 billion, versus a $7.837 billion Refinitiv estimate. That was up almost 6 percent from Q3 2021, although the $1.4 billion in profit represents a 3 percent decrease from the same period last year. Meanwhile, Netflix will launch its ad-supported tier in two weeks and plans to start cracking down on account sharing in 2023. Continue reading Netflix Tops Q3 Forecasts as the Service Schedules Changes

Top European TV supplier Vestel has become the first OEM for Xperi’s new TiVo-branded TVOS. In addition to distributing TVs under its own imprimatur, the Turkish firm manufactures sets for Hitachi, JVC, Toshiba and Panasonic. Vestel will begin selling branded TVs with TiVo as the primary software OS in mid-2023, Xperi said. Smart set manufacturers have increasingly sought a portal approach that helps customers navigate among a dizzying array of individual content platforms while sidestepping the additional costs associated with interfaces from the likes of Amazon Fire, Roku, Google TV or Android TV. Continue reading Xperi Names Vestel First Smart TV OEM for ‘Neutral’ TiVo OS

YouTube is laying the groundwork to bring its YouTube Shorts to Google TV and Android TV. While the company’s take on TikTok’s vertically framed, quick-hit content has been enormously successful — racking-up as many as 30 billion views in one day on mobile devices this year — there is as yet no dedicated TV support for the phone-first format. That’s about to change according to reports filtering out of an internal partner event. While the meeting centered on Alphabet’s own smart TV formats, as a content-provider YouTube’s past practices have tended to platform agnosticism. Continue reading YouTube Shorts Will Be Available on Living Room TV Screens

Regional Sports Network NESN is launching a subscription streaming service called NESN 360 for $29.99 per month, with the first month priced at $1. NESN 360 allows fans to purchase a direct subscription to NESN’s live programming and video-on-demand content. Launched in partnership with the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Bruins and Major League Baseball, NESN 360 makes NESN the first regional sports network in the country to launch a direct-to-consumer service bypassing cable. Annual subscriptions are priced at $329.99 and include eight tickets to see the Red Sox play in 2022. Continue reading NESN Is First Regional Sportscaster Offering DTC Streaming

Google TV is working on an app that will let users cast content from multiple streaming services to a central TV or display. A new “central casting” button announced at the Google I/O developer conference will later this year allow the Google TV app on Android phones or tablets to send content from a variety of different streaming services to your TV through a single app. The Alphabet unit also updated statistics for its Android TV ecosystem, detailing 110 million monthly active devices using the Android TV OS, which includes Google TV. That’s an increase from 2021’s 80 million monthly active devices. Continue reading Google Says Android TV at 110 Million, Adds Central Casting

Google is debuting a host of new features for its Android mobile phone interface. Reactions between iPhone and Android users will now appear as emoji in text messages. Videos will be experienced by all recipients in the same resolution as when sent through Google Photos links in a conversation, a feature the company says will soon be available for photos, too. The Portrait Blur now available to Pixel users and Google One members through Google Photos is expanded to work on pets, plants and food, and will soon be rolled out to Android users. Continue reading Google Rolls Out New Features, Updates for Android Mobile