BRISTOL, UK—Ocean Blue Software, a developer of software for Smart TVs, has launched ATSC 3.0 Inspector, a purpose-built tool designed to provide clear visibility into ATSC 3.0 broadcast streams and simplify analysis, debugging, and validation.

As ATSC 3.0 adoption accelerates, engineers working across the smart TV ecosystem face increasing complexity when interpreting and validating broadcast data. The ATSC 3.0 Inspector addresses this challenge by

The ATSC 3.0 Inspector is designed to give engineering teams deeper insight into the structure and behaviour of ATSC 3.0 streams, enabling faster issue identification and more efficient development workflows, according to the company.

Key capabilities include:

• Detailed inspection of ATSC 3.0 broadcast components
• Clear presentation of complex data structures
• Rapid identification of errors and inconsistencies
• Improved debugging and validation efficiency

By making broadcast data easier to understand and navigate, the tool helps reduce development time and minimise integration challenges, Ocean Blue said.

The ATSC 3.0 Inspector has been developed to support a wide range of organizations working in the broadcast eco-system across the smart TV value chain, including:

• Smart TV manufacturers and OEMs want to validate device behaviour
• Broadcasters and operators looking to ensure service integrity
• Semiconductor and platform providers test integrations and compliance

By enabling faster analysis and more accurate diagnostics, Ocean Blue Software helps teams move from issue identification to resolution more efficiently.

“ATSC 3.0 introduces significant advances in broadcast technology, but also increases the complexity of analysing and validating streams,” said Andy Carr, Chief Product Officer, Ocean Blue Software. “The ATSC 3.0 Inspector is designed to give engineers clear, actionable insight, helping them resolve issues faster and accelerate smart TV development.”

ATSC 3.0 Inspector is available now.

LAS VEGAS—Parks Associates has released new consumer research from its “Tech Ecosystem Consumer Insights Dashboard” at CES 2026 showing that smart TVs are the dominant gateway for streaming video in U.S. households.

The new data indicates that 61% of U.S. internet households use a smart TV as their primary streaming video device, continuing the shift away from streaming media players, gaming consoles and other connected devices.

Among smart TVs, the research found Samsung’s Tizen operating system leads the smart TV market—34% of smart TV owners have Samsung Tizen OS as their most-often-used smart TV.

But the study also found that this market remains highly fragmented, with increased competition from Roku, LG and Vizio.

When accounting for all primary connected TV (CTV) devices in US internet households, including streaming media players and game consoles, Roku takes the lead as most-used at 28%. Roku has traditionally led in the streaming media player category and has steadily increased its share in the smart TV space, growing from 8% in 2020 to 18% in 2025.

The findings from 8,000 U.S. internet households underscore how control of the TV experience is consolidating at the OS layer, the researchers said.

“Smart TVs are the default way consumers access video, and so the OS has become the central point of competition,” said Jennifer Kent, senior vice president and principal analyst, Parks. “Samsung’s leadership reflects the strategic value of platform scale, particularly as advertising, subscriptions, and service integration move directly into the TV interface.”

Zeam Media’s hyperlocal streaming platform Zeam has announced a new distribution deal with LG that will bring the streaming service to LG smart TVs and devices.

As a result of the deal, viewers with LG devices can now access hundreds of local stations and creator-driven shows via the Zeam app, including live local news, original series, and hyperlocal content from across the country.

Jack Perry, CEO of Zeam Media, explained that “this launch furthers Zeam’s mission to connect broadcasters, creators, and viewers on the screens people watch most. Zeam on LG marks a major step in broadening distribution for our platform, and highlights our commitment to democratizing access to media – whether from a small-town broadcaster or an emerging content creator.”

Zeam currently features streams from hundreds of local stations and has partnerships with such top local broadcast groups as CBS, Gray Media, News Press & Gazette, Morgan Murphy, and others.

For more on Zeam and the platform, visit Zeam.com.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Xperi announced today that since launching Powered by TiVo earlier this year, the smart TV platform now spans 17 brands, including Bush, Daewoo, Digihome, Panasonic, Sharp, Telefunken, and Vestel and is available in 15 European countries with a target of two million active devices in European homes by the end of the year.

“TiVo has always been at the forefront of innovation, and the recently-launched smart TVs are no exception,” said Jon Kirchner, CEO of Xperi. “We pride ourselves on understanding the end-user better than others and are leveraging those insights to help partners provide a more user-centric TV model. We’re excited to bring enhanced TV experiences to consumers around the world.”

The range of TVs carrying Powered by TiVo encompasses various sizes, from compact 24-inch models to expansive 75-inch displays with 4K/HDR support. Xperi says its Powered by TiVo platform can ”seamlessly aggregate content from various streaming services, linear TV channels and sports content, allowing consumers to organize and access their favorite shows, movies, and live events in a centralized hub. The platform supports a wide range of popular streaming services, providing consumers with access to a vast library of free and paid content.”

Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner said recently that Powered by TiVo smart TVs will be available for retail in the U.S. later this year.

During IFA 2024, TiVo will showcase the OS platform across six of its already available OEM partners.

PHILADELPHIA—Charter and Comcast’s streaming platform joint venture Xumo has announced it is partnering with Best Buy to bring Pioneer Xumo TVs to customers. The first Pioneer Xumo TVs will launch in Best Buy stores and on BestBuy.com in November in time for the holidays. 

“Our partnership with Best Buy represents a great step forward for consumer choice. Soon, consumers looking for an affordable and innovative smart TV will have a compelling new option in Pioneer Xumo TVs,” said Stephanie Cassi, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Xumo. “We’re focused on removing the complexity that’s come with the rise of streaming, enabling consumers to get back to enjoying their TV experience.”

 Pioneer joins Hisense as the latest manufacturer of Xumo TVs now available at Best Buy. 

Xumo reported that the new Pioneer Xumo TVs feature a user interface designed to make finding and watching programming simple and easy. The TVs feature universal voice search through the included remote, and an intuitive user interface that enables consumers to browse content from across all their streaming apps at once.

Pioneer Xumo TVs will be available in 43”, 50”, 55” and 65” 4K models. Alongside the simple and intuitive user experience, Pioneer Xumo TVs support Dolby Vision® HDR and HDR10 technology, providing enhanced color and contrast for an ever more immersive viewing experience.

Key features of Pioneer Xumo TVs include:

• Simple, Fast and Smart Discovery. Emmy-award winning voice technology allows consumers to discover content quickly from across available apps and services with a simple voice command into the remote.
• With My List, consumers can create a personalized playlist to save and quickly access shows or movies from across apps and services right from the home screen.
• Convenient and seamless access to recently viewed apps, services, content, HDMI inputs, and over-the-air channels on the first row of the home screen helps consumers get back to their favorite entertainment faster.
• A curated interface that combines automated suggestions with editorial recommendations to help consumers discover programming from across streaming apps and services.
• Hundreds of Built-In Apps
• Hundreds of streaming apps and services including Apple TV+, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, Prime Video, YouTube and more.
• Immediate access to tens of thousands of free movies and TV shows from ad-supported services like Xumo Play, Pluto, Tubi and more – all seamlessly blended alongside consumers’ subscription content to help them discover something new.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A new study from Accedo has found a high variation of energy consumption between various streaming devices, with TVs alone being the most efficient. The study, which looked at the energy usage of various streaming devices and a number of popular streaming applications, also found that autoplay content dramatically increases energy consumption.

Accedo tested various scenarios at application level, implementing changes around bitrate, resolution and dark mode versus light mode, to evaluate subsequent energy variations. The team also explored UI and UX techniques that can contribute to improved energy efficiency. This includes the recommendation of better UX guidelines to avoid unnecessary playback.

The study found that set-top-boxes only use a small amount of energy (Amazon Fire ~1.5W, Sky Puck ~3W and Youview ~10W, two streaming devices from U.K. broadcasters), while gaming consoles use around 70W of energy. 

However, since these types of devices need to be paired with a screen for playback, the overall energy consumption is higher than using a Smart TV alone, according to Accedo, which found that Smart TVs use around 51W with energy saving enabled and screen backlight set to 20%. With default backlight settings at 80%, LG WebOS TV would use around 120W and Tizen 2016 would use around 130W during playback. Switching energy saving off increased these further to around 170W for LG TV and around 200W for Tizen.

Accedo also tested a number of the most popular streaming applications. In general, the variation among apps across different devices was minimal. On Smart TVs with lower screen brightness settings, the average power consumption across all tested apps was around 52W. 

Notably, Amazon Prime's home view had lower idle power consumption than the other apps, with approximately 50% less power used compared to Netflix at default brightness settings. This is likely due to the lack of autoplaying content and the use of darker colors on the home screen.

Accedo has highlighted a number of recommendations from its findings, including prompting consumers to switch devices and/or adjust backlight settings, as well as suggesting video providers consider using darker aesthetics, implement energy saving features such as “skip Intro” or “are you still watching” and a reduction in animated content.

François Polarczyk, Sustainability Director, Accedo, commented: “At Accedo, we are committed to helping reduce the carbon footprint of video streaming and contributing to a more sustainable future. Our research has identified several impactful changes that, when implemented during development, could reduce the energy consumption of video streaming devices without sacrificing performance or user experience. However, there is still more work to be done and we are actively looking at further investigations in this area, particularly from a user acceptance perspective.”

Accedo indicated that further research could focus on UX changes or improvements that will help with the sustainability of the application or device, or working with device manufacturers to create more energy-efficient hardware.

The full report is available here. The company’s latest ESG report has also just been released and can be accessed via the website.

DURHAM, NH—The internet’s takeover of the American TV set is nearly complete as research shows that almost nine out of ten U.S. households now own at least one connected TV set. and nearly half of adults watch video via a connected device daily. 

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 88% of U.S. TV households have at least one Internet-connected TV device, including connected Smart TVs, stand-alone streaming devices (like Roku, Amazon Fire TV sticks or boxes, Chromecast, or Apple TV), connected video game systems, and/or connected Blu-ray players. This compares to 82% with at least one connected TV device in 2021, 74% in 2018, and 44% in 2013. 

Overall, 49% of adults in U.S. TV households watch video on a TV via a connected device daily—compared to 39% in 2021, 29% in 2018, and 6% in 2013.  Younger individuals are most likely to use connected TV devices.  Among all ages 18-34, 63% watch video on a TV via a connected device daily—compared to 58% of ages 35-54, and 27% of ages 55+.

These findings are based on a survey of 1,770 TV households in the U.S., and are part of a new LRG study, Connected TVs 2023.  This is LRG’s twentieth annual study on TVs in the U.S.

Other findings include:

• 74% of TV households have at least one connected Smart TV – up from 64% in 2021, 47% in 2018, and 13% in 2013
• 55% of all TV sets in U.S. households are connected Smart TVs – an increase from 43% in 2021, 29% in 2018, and 7% in 2014
• 44% of TV households only have Smart TVs for all their TV sets
• 62% of TV households have at least one stand-alone streaming device – up from 55% in 2021, 46% in 2018, and 6% in 2013
• 67% of TV households have multiple types of connected TV devices – compared to 62% in 2021, and 49% in 2018
• The mean age of those with multiple types of connected TV devices is 42.3, while the mean age of those with one type of device is 50.5, and the mean age of those with no connected TV devices is 55.5

“Nearly half of all adults now watch video via a connected TV device daily, a significant increase from 29% five years ago, and 6% a decade ago,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.  “While Smart TVs are a key component of the connected TV category, the vast majority of connected TV users stream via multiple types of devices."

DALLAS—Over the past seven years, U.S. households with broadband subscriptions have increased ownership of smart TVs from 38% to 63%, illustrating the trend towards TVs with integrated operating systems and away from peripherals. 

That’s according to the latest research from Parks Associates, which released its OTT Video Market Tracker at CES 2023 last week. The report highlights how companies like Roku and others have transformed the role of the TV in the home by marrying entertainment with connected home functions. Roku announced at CES 2023 it would manufacture its own line of smart TVs this year, and many companies showed off new TV technologies.

(Read also: Sharp Plans to Enter U.S. Smart TV Market With New Sets Based on Roku's New 'OLED Reference Design')

"Smart TVs are part of the modern home; this device will be a key element of an integrated whole-home entertainment vision going forward," said Elizabeth Parks, President, Parks Associates. "New applications and integration are bringing together the smart home and entertainment ecosystems to further monetize its user base and have more control of the data in the home."

Parks Associates research shows 87% of U.S. Internet households have at least one streaming service. At CES, many companies announced new smart TVs and seek to  leverage the operating system as much as the hardware for future applications. TV manufacturers and tech giants, such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung, are building smart home controls into the TV, transforming this device into a home control platform.

Parks notes that the trend will only accelerate. “Connected device owners now have an average of 16 connected devices in the home, and the desire for a single access control point is at the top of their wants,” the researcher said.

SAN FRANCISCO—Samba TV has announced a new multi-year research and development (R&D) venture with TCL that the companies say will focus on the development and deployment of  advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and content analytics to TCL TVs and make features of Samba AI, a suite of advanced AI and machine learning (ML) technologies available worldwide.

“From pioneering the first content recognition algorithms in Connected TVs, to innovating the next gen Smart TV experience powered by artificial intelligence, today’s announcement builds on Samba TV’s history of innovation and opens the door to an entirely new and exciting future where advanced AI will become the foundation of the television viewing experience," said Samba TV CEO and co-founder Ashwin Navin. "Together with TCL, we are committed to driving the industry into the future where the living room experience is personal, interactive, and immersive,” 

“TCL is excited to partner with an industry leader like Samba TV that continues to shape the future of television. Together we look forward to building a new generation of connected TV with a more seamless experience for viewers to drive deeper engagement,” said Shaoyong Zhang, CEO of TCL Electronics. “Samba TV’s transformative AI technology will provide tremendous new capabilities that will both delight the consumer and provide exciting new possibilities for TCL to deliver new experiences and new revenue streams."

The companies explained that the partnership will accelerate the development of Smart Screen — a next generation viewing experience for consumers with on-screen content information and recommendations, powered by Samba AI and content identification. 

Samba TV’s AI and ML technology intelligently deconstructs the on-screen content in real-time, identifying actors and actresses, brands, and products that appear as well as in-scene music and other viewing recommendations, the companies explained. 

In addition to content recognition advances, Samba TV and TCL will be unveiling Gesture Control at this year's CES. It allows viewers to seamlessly interface with the display by simply using hand movements launch a more interactive viewing experience. 

This underlying platform also powers an array of new consumer experiences, including Smart Screen, which enables TV owners to receive the benefit of new innovations over the lifetime of the device much like the continuous updates one expects from next generation automobiles that are connected and constantly learning and evolving with more usage data, the companies said. 

Samba TV and TCL will unveil the first version of these capabilities in a joint presentation with TCL at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center (Tech East, Central Hall, booth # 16915 and 16937).

New research on the viewing habits of viewers has found that viewers see smart TVs and streaming media players as having a whole lot in common, including the ability to strongly influence viewing behaviors.

According to Hub Entertainment Research's Streaming TV: Built-in vs. Plugged-in? study—based on a survey of 2,517 U.S.-based viewers—smart TVs are not moving to replace streaming media players—like a Roku box or Fire TV USB stick—but rather that the smart TV/streaming player combination may exist side by side for some time to come. 

These devices are complementing one another, the study found. The report revealed that a significant majority of homes of those surveyed (83%) have an Internet-connected smart TV or streaming media player and that many homes own both types of devices (44%). When it comes to sets, respondents said that more than half of enabled smart TVs (57%) have a streaming media player attached directly to them. 

It was also revealed that viewing behaviors are quite similar whether a viewer is using a smart TV or a streaming media player. Both devices can act as a gatekeeper between the viewer and content, often through the home screen of the device itself. For both a smart TV or a media player, about half of viewers use the options found on the device’s home screen to search for and select content rather than heading directly into an app itself to find content. The survey also found that viewers commonly use the branded buttons that are sometimes etched directly onto a remote control device, with nearly two in five smart TV users and streaming media device users selecting these branded buttons either “often” or “all the time.”

Details like these give device manufacturers clear feedback on the content that is being selected for viewing, whether that selection happens through an onscreen recommendation, a promotional ad on the home screen or the decision to simply click a brand name on a remote, the report’s authors said. 

What’s also being revealed is that when it comes to “built-in vs plugged-in,” it may not really matter, said David Tice, senior consultant to Hub and co-author of the study. “Whether people are using a smart TV or a streaming media player, their habits are very similar,” he said. “In the short term, both devices are going to co-exist — streaming media players are a long way from being replaced by smart TVs, and can’t be ignored.”

In addition to exploring how people use smart TVs vs streaming media players, the study set out to measure differences in usage/habits between the two; document differences in device usage and streaming behaviors between homes that only use smart TVs or only use streaming media players or use both; and answer what, if anything, might prompt users to commit to smart TV alone and eliminate streaming devices. The survey, conducted in August 2022, was run by Hub Entertainment Research, a company that tracks how technology is changing the way people find, choose and consume entertainment content.

Samsung is expanding the availability of its Tizen smart TV OS beyond its own models for the first time. The company announced partnerships with ODM companies Atmaca, HKC, and Tempo with new Tizen-enabled TVs from Bauhn, Linsar, Sunny, Vispera, available in the U.S., Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Türkiye, and the U.K. this year.

The new smart TVs powered by Tizen follow the announcement of Samsung’s Tizen TV Platform Licensing program at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in 2021. 

“2022 has been a memorable year for Tizen OS as we celebrate its 10th anniversary and the very first Tizen-powered smart TVs available from other brands,” said Yongjae Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Starting with these new Tizen-powered smart TVs, we will continue to expand the licensing program and introduce Tizen OS and its ecosystem to more products and brands around the world.”

Since Samsung teamed up with the Linux Foundation to unveil the first version in 2012, Tizen OS has grown to 200 million viewers in 197 countries, dominating the market at more than 34% as recently as 2020 according to Dataxis. But with more competition in the TV OS market from the likes of Roku, Google’s Android and now TiVo, Samsung’s move to expand its OS to non-Samsung models makes sense.

"Samsung's Tizen and LG's webOS have been the two most used Smart TV platforms for years, but according to Dataxis' new research, the Roku OS and Google's Android TV have experienced the largest growth in 2020 and 2021, and the trend is expected to continue for 2022. Roku and Google, as well as Amazon with its Fire OS, already started licensing their TV platforms to second and third-tier manufacturers a few years ago," said Guillaume Perrin, Senior Analyst at Dataxis recently.

ADDISON, Texas—A new Parks Associates survey of U.S. broadband households is showing significant growth in the adoption of smart TVs, which spiked to 56%, and smart speakers/display, growing to 53%, since 2019. 

The growing adoption of connected TVs during the pandemic, also helps explain why major companies like Comcast and Amazon are planning to launch branded smart TVs with their operating systems, Parks said. 

“Big announcements in the smart TV space by Amazon and Comcast are evidence of where the home entertainment market is headed,” said Paul Erickson, senior analyst, Parks Associates. “TVs are now consumers’ most common video centerpiece in the home, and technology powerhouses are vying to own this point of entertainment aggregation – and all the data that goes with it – by controlling the platform itself. The competition now is not just about providing access to entertainment, it’s also about adding increasing value to the platform through features such as voice assistants, smart home integration, and better user experiences. Smart TVs are now seen as a key anchor device for ecosystem penetration into today’s broadband households.”  

“Consumer electronics device manufacturers are best served by product strategies accounting for consumers’ increased use of devices at home for work and streaming entertainment purposes,” Erickson added. “While mobility remains important, consumers now see renewed value in at-home work and lifestyle use cases.”  

The results are based on the release of the Parks Associates' latest Consumer Insights Dashboard, a new ongoing service that analyzes the firm’s quarterly surveys of 10,000 US broadband households to track consumer adoption of home devices and services. 

LOS ANGELES—Despite the rapid growth of streaming media in recent years, the sector still seems to have plenty of headroom for new growth in 2021, according to new research by Interpret. It found that half of consumers who plan to purchase a smart TV or a streaming media player within the next three months will be first-time buyers. 

The remainder are existing owners who are replacing their streaming device, upgrading to a newer version, or switching to a new brand. 

“With half of buyers being new to smart TVs and streaming media players, this sector of consumer electronics is primed for continued growth,” said Brett Sappington, Interpret’s vice president of research. “However, not all streaming device brands will enjoy the full benefit of that growth. Our research shows that each brand attracts a unique consumer audience, with differing characteristics, habits, and preferences that are often related to key features. Those brands that best meet consumers’ needs stand the best chance of gaining market share.” 

According to Interpret’s “Streaming Devices: Platforms, Brands, and Consumers 2021” report, 10% of consumers plan to buy a smart TV and a similar number plan a streaming media player purchase within the next quarter. 

Samsung and Vizio owners are the least likely to replace their smart TV, and Roku owners are the least likely to want to replace their streaming media player. 

The survey found that 18% of Roku owners, 17% of Samsung owners, and 18% of Vizio owners plan to replace their device within the next three months. 

NEW YORK—There are a few best practices when it comes to integrating set-top box (STB) and Smart TV data, according to a new study from the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM).

The research aimed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Smart TV and STB data and identify best practices for combining them at the household level. CIMM describes both datasets as complementary and believes the combination can help create a granular nationally representative data sets for linear and streaming TV programming and advertising.

CIMM enlisted Pre-Meditated Media and Janus Strategy and Insights to conduct the study, which was done in two phases. The first phase reviewed Smart TV ACR and STB providers to collect a general understanding of the approach of each. This included general applications, sample sizes, data capturing and reporting and data processing rules.

The second phase reviewed the existing methods for integrating Smart TV ACR and STB providers, like matching methods and co-mingled processing of viewing data. The two phases were combined to identify best practices, which resulted in identifying five stages.

Stage One is best practices for data set selection. This includes utilizing STB data sets that span multiple traditional/virtual MVPDs and Smart TV ACR data providers to ensure representativeness of viewer footprint and amplification of complementary measurement priorities of both data collection techniques; as well as recognize diversity of household TV access on tuning behaviors that reflect changing landscape of TV viewing and apply consistent definition and sample inclusion of over-the-air, pay-TV and broadband-only homes.

Stage Two is on establishing match and commingling design, which calls for the use of tuning data from homes with STB-to-Smart TV ACR device matches to inform calibration of combined data set estimates, including un-matched homes. This results in three core cells: STB only, STB/Smart TV ACR and Smart TV ACR only.

Stage Three represents match execution, calling for the deployment of a high quality matching agent, able to match on postal and IP addresses; leverage HH device graph for representation of OTA, pay-TV and broadband-only homes; validate match process; and ask IP match provider questions regarding quality of data records, such as recency, churn rate, deterministic vs. probabilistic, life span, etc.

Stage Four deals with the best practices for calibration and weighting. This addresses key calibrations made to data sets, like STB adjustments to Smart TV ACR (number of sets in home, DVR/VOD, backfill reference for ACR signature library) and Smart TV ACR to STB (CTV access, set-on/set off, on-screen ad exposure). It also calls for applying weights to four benchmark cells: U.S. demographics, TV access universe, tuning metrics and geographics.

The final stage, Stage Five, covers validation, which entails validating universe and turning estimates.

“The feedback we have received in our research bodes well for the future development of granular Set Top Box/Smart TV ACR data sets that support advanced targeting and placement optimization on linear TV,” said Howard Shimmel, president, Janus Strategy and Insights.  “What we are seeing is that Integration processes are maturing, enabling more flexibility and potential for standardization; STB and Smart TV ACR data formats already possess some similarities; there is a degree of consistency in metadata already occurring and experimentation is accelerating.  All that suggests that the path to integration is taking shape. Our hope is that with the findings of this report that providers will begin to implement the best practices outlined.”

CIMM will provide more detail on the report during the CIMM Cross-Platform Video Measurement & Data Summit taking place on Feb. 3 & 4.

For more information, visit www.cimm-us.org.  

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Roku led the market as the most sold Smart TV Operating System in North America during 2020, according to NPD’s Weekly Tracking Service, garnering around a third of the market in both the U.S. and Canada.

From Jan. 5, 2020, to Dec. 26, 2020, Roku TV held a 38% market share in the U.S. and a 31% market share in Canada, making it the leading Smart TV OS in both countries. 

Roku licenses is OS to 15 OEM brands. This, according to NPD numbers, has helped it surpass Samsung in terms of OS distribution.

Hoping to build off their 2020 success, Roku has unveiled a new wireless reference design for consumer electronics brands. The new wireless soundbar reference design uses proprietary audio technology to connect with any Roku TV model wirelessly for audio and video synchronization. Roku says this will enable consumer electronic companies to build and sell wireless soundbars under their own brand.

TCL is expected to debut a wireless soundbar that works with the Roku wireless reference design at CES 2021.

“We are proud to power the smart TVs that are most frequently purchased in the United States and Canada. Every day we work to ensure our customers have the best TV experience and that means—ease of use, choice, endless entertainment and great value,” said Mustafa Ozgen, senior vice president of Account Acquisition at Roku. “Additionally, with the introduction of our new wireless soundbar reference design, we are continuing to expand our home entertainment eco-system to ensure consumers can pair any Roku TV with great sound.”

In addition, Element will launch a 2.0 Roku TV Ready Soundbar and 2.1 Roku TV Ready Soundbar + Subwoofer in the U.S. later in January. TCL, Hisense, Enclave, Sound United and Bose all previously released Roku TV Ready certified audio products in the U.S.

For more information, visit www.roku.com.  

BERLIN—Roku is coming to Europe with its Roku TV licensing program with the expected Q4 launch of Hisense Roku TV models in the U.K., said Roku CEO Anthony Wood during the ongoing IFA 2019 convention in Berlin.

The Hisense Roku TV models, being shown this week at the technology gathering, offer an intuitive operating system, thousands of streaming channels, 4K UHD resolution and High Dynamic Range (HDR).

“While consumers love Roku TV’s simplicity and advanced features, TV manufacturers benefit from the low cost of manufacturing, a variety of technology options and support from Roku,” said Wood.

Roku licenses Roku TV reference designs based on Roku OS to television manufacturers to use in their smart TVs.

“The ability to quickly bring to market a leading smart TV experience that is regularly updated by Roku and is packed with entertainment gives TV manufacturers an edge in the competitive TV business,” he added.

Television manufacturers receive the Roku TV reference platform with TV and remote control designs. Roku also provides technical support to TV manufacturers. Roku also manages the software ecosystem for all Roku TVs. This includes updating streaming channels and software.

Manufacturers interested in the Roku Licensing Program can request more information by emailing rokutv@roku.com.

A slight majority of U.S. consumers say they “have never heard of” Next Gen TV (aka ATSC 3.0) according to a new survey from Hub Entertainment Research. This is comparable to the 58% who have never heard of 8K TV but much larger than the approximately 20% who had never heard of 4K TV.

This lack of knowledge of the next generation broadcast standard is just one of numerous conclusions about the current state of the TV set in American homes revealed by Hub’s “Evolution of the TV Set.” The results are from an online survey of 2,500+ U.S. consumers taken in May and June. The survey included both TV and non-TV homes.

Despite the proliferation of viewing video on mobile devices, the TV set still remains the dominant source of news and entertainment in the U.S. household Hub concluded. It found that the average home has 2.7 TV sets and that two-thirds of those homes have at least one smart TV set that is connected to broadband. The TV set in the living room or family room is still the most popular, with respondents saying that 81% of viewing happens on TV sets in those rooms. Half of those “most used” sets are connected to a pay-TV provider while 41% are connected to a streaming TV source.

Among vendors, Samsung is the dominant player with 48% of those planning on buying a Samsung-branded smart TV set in the 12 months (LG is a distant second with 12%).

Half of the sets in American households are 50 inches or bigger and fewer than three years old, Hub said. Almost half of all U.S. homes now have a streaming media player, according to the survey and 75% of homes stream TV shows or movies to a connected TV screen.

When it comes to new technologies, consumers are most interested in 4K and HDR sets with more than 75% of respondents expressing “a lot” or “some” interest in the high resolution imaging technologies. However, while 4K TV sets are now dominant on the retail floor, only 43% have used a 4K TV set to watch actually 4K content.

Television technology is becoming more complex to consumers as they navigate terms such as 8K, HDR and frames per second, according to David Tice, co-author of the study.

“As smart TVs, connected TVs, connected devices, and TV voice-control devices proliferate, many new services and features have suddenly become available to TV set users”, said David Tice, co-author of the study. “But TV manufacturers and services have a long record of inadequately educating consumers on their offerings. TV brands and content distributors need to work together to increase consumer awareness, as these great new features won’t help sell TV sets or services—or command a premium—if people don’t understand them.”

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO—MadHive, an advanced TV advertising solutions company, is partnering with Inscape, a provider of smart TV viewing data, to integrate Inscape’s glass level TV viewing data from more than 11 million smart TVs into MadHive’s proprietary AI advertising platform. The partnership is designed to offer broadcast networks the ability to sell linear advertising alongside-data enriched OTT inventory, as well as allow customers to plan, target, measure and optimize cross-platform linear and OTT campaigns in real-time.

MadHive says it currently provides linear to OTT reach extension, targeting and fraud detection in 95%+ of the DMAs across the United States, giving local broadcasters the ability to offer addressable advertising and enabling brands to reach local markets.

“OTT allows advertisers to leverage the precision targeting of digital on the TV screen, but at the same time it’s also contributing yet another platform to an already fragmented media landscape,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive. “This partnership enables advertisers to holistically analyze cross-screen linear and OTT campaigns, while calibrating audiences to drive real business outcomes.”

MadHive also recently announced an integration with Premion, the OTT advertising arm of TV station group TEGNA.

Although the U.S. video and TV industry saw a meager 1 percent growth in consumer spending in 2018, the small uptick masks a “seismic” shift in how viewers consume television, according Futuresource Consulting.

That shift is being driven by several phenomenons, according to the market researcher: The increasing presence of connected devices, the rise of subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, and perhaps most importantly, the increasing consolidation in the media industry that is being driven by these changes.

“There’s no doubt that 2018 was a significant year for the US video and TV industries,” comments David Sidebottom, Principal Consultant at Futuresource Consulting. “The entertainment landscape was redefined with companies changing their strategies and undergoing some major M&A activity. Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fox and confirmation of its direct-to-consumer service, Disney+, along with the completion of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, were key moments in a turbulent twelve months. Internationally, Comcast’s acquisition of Sky brings two like-minded companies together, both considered to have best-in-class pay-TV service offerings. It also provides Comcast with wider geographical reach and entry into key European markets. Such acquisitions and collaboration will help redefine customer relationships and play a pivotal role in the battle for the living room, but the dust isn’t going to settle any time soon.”

But despite the ongoing consolidation, Futuresource expects the market will become more fragmented, something that Sidebottom attributes to increasing concerns about private data.

“Many consumers don’t like the idea of relying solely on one company to control the living room and smart home,” says Sidebottom. “They may feel uncomfortable with a single brand being responsible for so much of their personal data. As a result, the wider sector will stay competitive, but there will no doubt be further consolidation. Those with big aspirations of becoming super aggregators of services will need deep pockets and the determination to evolve beyond entertainment.”

The strength of SVOD is reflected in the fact that, for the first time ever, SVOD revenues exceeded video rental and purchase revenues for the first time. Futuresource predicts that SVOD revenues will have risen 30 percent in 2018 while it expects a 2 percent decline in pay-TV revenues for 2018 to $97 billion. Futuresource says pay-TV will continue to play a significant role for the near future, however, accounting for more than two-thirds of total entertainment spending through 2022.

Futuresource also thinks the TV set will continue to be a key driver in streaming adoption. “Despite the growth in second screen viewing, the TV screen remains the preferred viewing platform for premium streaming services,” the researcher said. 

LAS VEGAS—LG Electronics believes its 2019 flagship OLED TVs are moving to the head of the class.

This year’s lineup, encompassing the Z9, W9, E9 and C9 series, promise optimized content and enhanced picture and sound thanks to the company’s second-generation a9 Gen 2 intelligent processor, and a deep-learning algorithm developed from a database of over one million visual cues. Together they “recognize” content source quality and determine the best upgrade method for visual output, LG said.

[Related: CES 2019 Preview: Your TV Wants To Control Your Home]

The new processor also automatically adjusts brightness based on ambient light conditions, taking into account the way the human eye perceives images in different lighting.The a9 Gen 2 processor can further refine HDR content by adjusting the brightness to add contrast, detail and depth of color to dark scenes in brightly-lit rooms, LG said.

Stay up to date with all things CES-related with one-click access to TWICE’s CES Hub.

On the sound front, quality is augmented by an intelligent algorithm that can up-mix two-channel audio to deliver what LG described as “convincing virtual 5.1 surround sound.” Meanwhile, the a9 Gen 2 chip can optimize output based on content type for clearer-sounding voices, adding further realism to the sets’ Dolby Atmos sound signature.

The platform’s smarts also extends to digital assistants, which this year includes Amazon Alexa in addition to the built-in Google Assistant, first made available on the 2018 models with ThinQ AI. Pressing the Amazon Prime Video button on the TVs’ Magic Remote allows users to manage smart-home devices, ask questions and access Alexa’s tens of thousands of skills.

Voice control also comes into play via LG’s own ThinQ AI smart platform, which now boasts a new conversational voice recognition feature that understands context and allows for more complex requests.

LG’s latest OLED series will be on display next week at CES 2019 in the company’s Central Hall booth, #11100.

Next week at CES 2019 we should expect to see a growing number of manufacturers introducing smart-home connectivity into their TVs in the form of voice activation. This latest innovation combines the ease of voice commands for TV control with myriad other functions that expand the television’s abilities by integrating it with the rest of the smart- home ecosystem.

Of course several brands, including Samsung, LG and Sony, already offer the ability to control connected devices in this way. But this we will likely see manufacturers show off some new relationships between their TV brands and the companies behind voice assistant technology, most noticeably Google Assistant software.

Stay up to date with all things CES-related with one-click access to TWICE's CES Hub.

So far, voice assistant technology comes to TVs in two formats. One type offers built-in assistant capabilities, which operate through a voice-enabled remote and do not require a standalone device. The second format does not have voice-assistant technology built into the TV itself, but does allow the user to control the TV through the use of a separate device such as an Amazon Echo. TVs with this format are commonly identified as “compatible with” various voice assistant operating systems, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

In contrast, Amazon formed an exclusive partnership with Best Buy’s private-label Insignia brand and the Hisense-licensed Toshiba badge last year, which limits its prospects for expansion. However, many additional brands are nonetheless compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, including Haier, Hisense, LG, Sony and Vizio. We can expect to see more TVs added to this list this year, and perhaps even an additional player if Roku expands its voice control capabilities beyond the television. As for Samsung, the brand remains content with its proprietary Bixby technology to the exclusion of all others.

What results from the addition of this software is an integrated system that lets TV users speak into a voice-enabled remote to control the TV, as well as conduct any of the other functions available on a standalone virtual assistant device. In practical terms, this turns the television into a giant control center for the smart home at the same time that appliances, home audio, thermostats, security cameras, lighting and many other once-standard household devices are gaining new functions and abilities through the addition of virtual assistant software.

Point is, these smart-home products need some sort of external control source. Traditionally this was accomplished via a mobile app and later with the additional option of voice-controlled smart speakers. Now, with the integration of virtual assistants into the TV itself, the TV has the potential to become the control hub of the smart home, although the industry has yet to establish a need for the television to fulfill this role in the home. The convenience of an always-available smartphone or an always-on voice controlled speaker cannot be overstated, and the TV industry has yet to proffer a compelling reason why the TV is more suitable for this purpose than a smaller device.

The market may have an uphill battle on its hands in this regard, although TV manufacturers will be doing their best to drown out any doubts at CES.

Samsung has launched “Remote Access,” a new feature the company says will be available on its Smart TV lineups starting this year. The Remote Access feature will allow consumers to remotely control compatible programs and apps on their PCs, tablets and smartphones through their Samsung Smart TV.

With Remote Access, input devices, including keyboards, can be connected to a Samsung Smart TV; without a separate HDMI cable connection, users can remotely access a PC in their room through the TV in their living room to perform various tasks including surfing the web or playing games from their TV’s screen using a connected keyboard and mouse.

Remote Access allows users to directly control their devices connected to a TV with a keyboard and mouse in addition to simply displaying the content on a larger screen. Additionally, web browser-based cloud office service can be accessed through Remote Access, so users can now access files and work on documents from their Smart TVs.

Samsung has partnered with enterprise software provider VMwareRemote Access on developing VMware Horizon for consumer applications.

To address security concerns surrounding wireless connectivity and cloud services, Samsung has integrated its proprietary Knox security technology into its Remote Access features. Embedded in Samsung’s Smart TV lineup since 2015, Knox is supported with regular firmware updates for continuous protection. Knox has been certified by Common Criteria for its security performance and is the only security solution in the TV industry to receive this certification.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. — Arthur C. Clarke

Sometimes the news is so big, a guy has to stop what he’s doing and write an article for his favorite technology magazine. Such an event happened the other day with Intel’s announcement of the Neural Compute Stick 2. It’s a full capability artificial intelligence and vision processing device in a USB stick. I’m a pragmatic guy who is always thinking about what will be in the future, but with this announcement, the future’s arriving a little sooner than I had planned. It’s time to think about the impact on the broadcast industry and what we can prototype, RIGHT NOW.

To be sure, AI of this horsepower, about 4 teraflops/second (which I am guessing is smarter than a mosquito, but not as intelligent as a flounder), has been with us for a while and has been available through the cloud (think Amazon Alexa or Siri). This isn’t even Intel’s first neural network stick. But the addition of vision processing with this level of capability and without an internet connection means it can be used in real-time applications. And at just $99 each, every device will soon have the capabilities of being “smart.”

So what will this change? The short answer is ... just about everything. But readers of this article want to know how this will affect TV production and consumption. So here are some predictions:

Smart Brilliant TVs Will Know Us.

It won’t take long for the CES guys to pick up on this. Finding the right content to watch is hard and getting harder. I’ve observed for a while that trying to find a good film to watch across your cable, Netflix and HBO subscriptions is futile. The next step is for TVs to know exactly who is in the room and to recommend choices for us. Perhaps the television has a personality and participates in the debate. The set will get real-time feedback on the choices from all of us based upon our body language — improving the accuracy of recommendations over time. Whoever owns this algorithm is going to have a lot of influence. AI in the set can put this power back in the CE manufacturers’ laps.

Cameras Will See Things We Don’t

All the way on the other end of the signal path, cameras will get a lot smarter. Remember those old analog “skin tone color correction” circuits to smooth out wrinkles? Well, of course they went digital years ago, but what happens when they’re smart and driven by a neural network? Live de-aging correction is possible. Barbara Walters would be soooo jealous. It does not take much imagination to see that live replacement of an actor’s image with an avatar would open new doors for the effects industry to work their magic in live, more interactive ways.

Without a doubt, autofocus will now be able to anticipate the subject. Pan, tilt and zoom controls will follow the action and frame automatically, perhaps even mimicking a particular cinematographer’s style. It’s not a leap to say that robotic cameras will soon become self-driving. Ross, Vitec? Are you paying attention?

Compression

There’s no doubt these cost-effective, local, massively parallel processors will be used to create new compression algorithms. With computer vision, we can dedicate bits to only the most important parts of the image and create an architecture totally different than what we use now. I wonder who will do it first, how much latency there will be, and whether we’ll still owe royalties to MPEG-LA.

A Helpful Hand In Editing

Editing is akin to storytelling and therefore a creative art — but AI can help by organizing clips automatically based upon who is in them and create automated logs. The user interface may change to support gestures and voice control (no more carpal tunnel or backaches!). Perhaps the editing device itself might even learn the style of the editor and begin a rough-cut on their behalf.

Real-Time Automated Captioning

Silicon-based captioning solutions have been making steady progress in reaching the accuracy levels of their carbon-based competitors for prerecorded files. With localized AI, real-time live closed-captioning with acceptable accuracy should be a slam dunk. While we’re at it, let’s use the video recognition to automate VDS (Video Descriptive Service). Heck, all of this could move into the set-top box or even the TV for use on demand, and spare the broadcaster the cost of doing it at all. Let’s go one step further and add real-time translation into any language, executed in the TV, at the request of the viewer.

I’m Sorry, Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

This exciting news is especially fitting on the week when Douglas Rain passed away. For those who did not catch the news, Rain played the voice of HAL 9000, the sinister AI computer in “2001 a Space Odyssey,” as well as a much more helpful sidekick in “2010: The Year We Make Contact.” So in one lifetime, we’ve gone from imagining pervasive artificial intelligence to making it available for under $100. Arthur C. Clarke would sum it up nicely, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

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Inscape said it made a deal to provide LiveRamp with the viewing data it collects from nearly nine million smart TVs.

The big-screen TV viewing information will be incorporated into the other data LiveRamp uses to identify consumers based on their digital activities. That means that when advertisers run data-driven ad campaigns, they’ll be better able to target TV viewers, who will be getting more relevant messages.

[Read: TiVo Report Sees New TV Data Shaking Up Measurement]

“This is a very strategic integration that brings the speed, scale and transparency of Inscape’s smart TV viewing data to LiveRamp’s ecosystem platform partners, agencies and brands who leverage LiveRamp for identity resolution,” said Allison Metcalfe, general manager for TV at LiveRamp, part of Acxiom. “By tying viewership to LiveRamp’s IdentityLink ID, LiveRamp is making it possible for marketers to take a data-driven approach to better plan, target and measure their omnichannel marketing efforts.”

Inscape’s data is being used by a number of measurement and analytic companies that are finding new ways to look at TV audiences for networks, agencies and advertisers.

“As new advanced television efforts and initiatives evolve, having a strong identity link between device-level television viewing data and first and third-party data sets is imperative,” said Greg Hampton, VP of business development at Inscape. “LiveRamp is making it possible for marketers to plan future marketing initiatives based on real data and better understand the results of omnichannel campaigns.”

Roku is wagering its strong branding and messaging of connectivity simplicity will resonate with consumers as it enters wireless home audio for the first time.

The manufacturer of streaming-video devices for cord cutters unveiled the Roku TV Wireless Speakers on Monday, a pair of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth bookshelf speakers the company said are designed to work exclusively with its co-branded Roku TVs.

It also introduced the Roku Touch, a Wi-Fi tabletop remote with voice control and playlist-launch buttons.

The TV Wireless Speakers are the company’s first products to employ the Roku Connect software and branding. First announced during CES in January, the Roku Connect software also lets OEMs build home entertainment devices that connect wirelessly to Roku OS devices and other Roku Connect devices within a network.

The devices will ship as a bundle—two speakers, the Touch remote and a Roku TV Voice remote—for a $199 suggested retail. The company will also offer $20-50 discounts to consumers who preorder before they become available on Oct. 14.

Roku, which partners with 10 manufacturers to build its OS into co-branded TVs, promotes its devices and OS as simple to set up and navigate. It intends to bring this same message to consumers for audio, with Lloyd Klarke, Roku’s director of product management, telling TWICE it’s expected to appeal to consumers intimidated by the complexity of A/V receivers or connected soundbars.

The speakers, which receive power via a wall outlet, are designed to work exclusively with Roku TVs, with setup completed on the TV display through the Roku OS. They also boast volume-leveling and dialog-enhancement technology intended to compensate for uneven sound quality.

The company first teamed with TCL and Hisense in 2014 for Roku TVs, and models are now additionally available under the Element, Hitachi, Insignia, Magnavox, Philips, RCA and Sharp brands in the U.S. (They are also sold under the Sanyo brand in Canada.)

Klarke cited data from IHS stating that one in four smart TVs sold in the first quarter in the U.S. were Roku TVs. According to The NPD Group’s Checkout E-commerce tracker, Roku was the No. 3 online seller of streaming-media players for the 12 months ending May 2018, with 16 percent of dollar share and 19 percent of unit share. 

Audio has become a growing central focus for Roku, Klarke said, noting the company’s 2017 purchase of Dynastrom Audio, a developer of wireless audio technology. 

Netflix has revealed the first set of Smart TVs that it is recommending to customers in 2018.

The annual list aims to help Netflix customers navigate which sets work best with the streamer.

Netflix expects the Smart TVs to meet five of its seven criteria:

- TV Instant On: TV starts instantly and apps are ready to use instantly

- Fast app launch: Netflix app always launches quickly

- Netflix button: Remote control includes a Netflix button

- Easy Netflix Icon Access: Netflix app is easy to access and launch from the TV menu

- TV Resume: TV remembers what viewer was doing and wakes at same place it was turned off

- High-res Netflix Interface: Viewers can browse Netflix in 1080p resolution

- Latest Netflix version

Having met the criteria, Netflix has recommended LG 4K UHD TVs with webOS 4.0 and Sony W800F / WF800 series Android TVs.