TiVo announced its ‘Powered by TiVo’ offer and move into the Smart TV market ahead of IBC last year and is confident that television brands and OEMs are looking for ‘independent’ alternatives to the likes of Android, Roku and indeed Samsung, which has made the Tizen OS available to third-parties. The company previously announced a deal with Vestel to cover television brands such as Vestel, Daewoo, Regal, Hitachi, Telefunken and JVC.

Sharp is launching a whole line of Smart TVs featuring the TiVo OS/platform. TiVo says the deal demonstrates demand for alternative OS options, as it predicted, and the move confirms TiVo’s expansion beyond traditional Pay TV hardware.

“We chose TiVo’s OS not only because of the superior product but also because we wanted to offer a user experience of Sharp elements with more variety and freedom,” says Nick Chen, Head of Europe, Vice President of TV-System business unit, Sharp Corporation. “We are excited to give users significantly more control on how to discover and consume content across live TV, news, sports, movies and more.”

Jon Kirchner, Chief Executive Officer at Xperi (which owns TiVo), says, “Sharp’s selection of Powered by TiVo is further proof that we are meeting a crucial need for Smart TV brands. The accelerated adoption of our independent media platform by consumer electronic brands, as well as by BMW in the car, lays a strong foundation for the future growth and success of our platform ecosystem.”

TiVo will be showcasing its independent media platform at IFA 2023 in Berlin starting September 1. You can read our original analysis here about TiVo’s move into the Smart TV market and why the company believes there is an opening for an independent Smart TV OS.

Our view then, which is unchanged, is that TiVo’s excellent UX, honed over decades in the Pay TV market, can boost the quality of the UX in the value-brand television set market, and should be viewed as a significant development for that reason, given the benefit to all television stakeholders if the UX bar can be raised in every room, in every connected TV home.

This video also shows TiVo discussing Powered by TiVo at Connected TV World Summit in March this year, when the company explained how it helps CE makers monetise their television sets, post-sale.

This may come as a surprise given CTV’s similarities to mobile, where data flows in abundance, even with Apple’s restrictions to ID-level targeting. Both operate through devices and apps, but where they diverge is in the availability and accessibility of data. Equipment manufacturers and, to a lesser extent, streaming providers are holding their assets close to their chest, perhaps seeking to avoid the commodification which devalued data on mobile and the open web.

While this guardedness is understandable, it is impeding cross-platform measurement and targeting capabilities, making it challenging for buyers to deliver consistent ROI while driving up CPMs for sellers.

To solve this problem, brands need to explore how adtech can bring life to this parched ecosystem, allowing data to flow to those who need it without compromising its value or its safety.

Lack of identity spine weakens CTV’s cross-platform capabilities

ID solutions are perhaps the most essential adtech solution for delivering effective targeted CTV campaigns, as they allow brands to identify users across different platforms and devices. With ID solutions, brands can deliver relevant ads to consumers no matter where they are, ensuring they reach the right audience at the right time.

For example, an ID solution can help advertisers pseudonymously recognise a user who watches a show on a connected TV and then clicks on a social media ad on their phone by linking the user’s CTV device ID with their mobile advertising ID. Being able to consistently recognise users is also vital for universal frequency capping and limiting ad exposure across platforms to maximise incremental reach. The advertiser can also deliver relevant ads on other connected devices that the user interacts with, providing a personalised and sticky experience across devices.

Unfortunately, with so many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in the market offering their own variation of device IDs and strictly controlling access to them, CTV lacks the identity spine needed to deliver accurate frequency control and measurement. The static nature of big-screen TVs has seen IP addresses stand in as identifiers, but this falls apart the moment a brand wants to measure outside of the CTV ecosystem (for example, in a cross-channel campaign that also targets mobile and web) or target an individual rather than a household.

Data exchanges are a bustling market of consumer insights

Data exchanges are marketplaces that act as intermediaries between data owners and buyers, making it easier for brands to access the information they need for effective targeting. Data exchanges can offer a range of data types, including demographic, behavioural, and location data.

For the media owners that set the boundaries of what is possible in CTV campaigns, data exchanges offer an opportunity to apply data targeting to campaigns — à la programmatic deals. This, in turn, increases the value of their inventory to a wider range of advertisers.

Brands, meanwhile, can use data exchanges to overcome limitations within their own data. This is particularly useful for brands that have been unable to use first-party data to make up for the shortfall of data availability in the post-GDPR era, as is the case for many CPG brands, for whom TV is a key touchpoint.

Most of all, CTV needs technology to empower data collaboration

The best way to help brands quench their thirst for data in the CTV ecosystem is to open the floodgates of data collaboration. If all siloed pockets of data (whether first, second, or third-party) along with all identifiers and ID-enriching signals can be unified and appropriately pseudonymised, the limitations of each component part can be overcome. Overlapping audiences between brands and platforms can be segmented and targeted not just within CTV, but across the wider advertising ecosystem.

Clean rooms are one of the ad tech solutions built to facilitate data collaboration. These are secure environments that allow brands to share and analyse data without accessing it directly, with cryptographic scrambling preserving user privacy and data ownership while still delivering valuable insights. In the UK, CTV broadcaster Channel 4 and retail media network Nectar used a clean room to discover shared audiences.

However, clean rooms are far from plug and play. Both parties must have their data organised to be compatible with the clean room they are using, which does not guarantee compatibility with any other clean rooms the brand may want to use. It is a significant investment of time, resources, and money to set up a clean room, and data sets must be regularly re-matched to ensure insights are up to date. Then, after all of that, there is no guarantee that anything actionable can be taken out of them.

Data collaboration, then, must not be limited to certain tools but be embraced at a cross-platform, cross-solution level. ID resolution and data exchanges can make more data available on CTV, while data collaboration tools can facilitate the smooth exchange of first and second-party data between the supply and demand side. A dedication to interoperability and an acknowledgement that no single approach can solve the ecosystem-level data drought will be necessary for CTV to thrive.

As CTV continues to grow and evolve, the role of adtech solutions in unlocking the full programmatic potential of the ecosystem will become increasingly important. With the right adtech tools, the promise of a CTV ecosystem that delivers the best of both linear TV and digital advertising can be realised. It will take collaboration, a more open attitude to data sharing, and perhaps some consolidation for us to bring life to CTV’s data desert.

Cyta (which also provides broadband), offers multichannel linear TV spanning entertainment and sports, plus VOD via its Cytavision packages. It also has the CytavisionGo streaming service for mobile, tablet and computer. Last year the company implemented a Smart TV app for Android, Tizen and WebOS that largely replicates the Pay TV experience already delivered via set-top boxes on the managed IPTV network, including the provision of pay-per-view as well as VOD.

At Connected TV World Summit this spring, Anna Agrotou, Senior Engineer at Cyta, explained the operator-as-an-app Smart TV strategy. “We want to target our younger audience and we need to gradually replace the set-top box. It is more cost-efficient for us [to provide the TV service via a Smart TV app] because if there was a set-top box we would have to install it in the home. The app provides immediate service activation: you just phone our call centre and download the application [to an existing supported Smart TV].”

Smart TV app users get a three-month free trial period that gives them access to a subset of the content. If they then subscribe, the full service begins at a lower monthly price than the set-top box service offering. A subscription comes with multiscreen viewing on three devices plus the television app, with sign-on allowing for one concurrent Smart TV stream on the same IP address. If someone tries to log-in from a different IP address, they are asked if they want to end the viewing session on the first device. But viewing is allowed from different locations, with the ‘portable’ television app ready for use in holiday homes, for example. Additional concurrent Smart TV streams are allowed at extra cost.

Cyta is actively encouraging new customers to take the Smart TV approach rather than the set-top box, and has been doing this since late 2022. Customers who want to convert from STB consumption to Smart TV app usage can do so, to take advantage of the reduced subscription fee. Agrotou acknowledged that even as more customers take up the Smart TV app approach, there will be a need for STBs to serve second, non-Smart TVs in a home (in multiroom homes). “It won’t be easy to migrate these customers [from STB to Smart TV app],” she pointed out.

In 2020, Cyta introduced a pre-paid model for sports packages and discreet sports events on the STB offer, and one of the next steps is to bring this to the Smart TV app.

Agrotou gave the London audience a list of the challenges that Cyta has faced with its operator TV app deployment. The most notable item is the need to support software across multiple TV operating systems and then test upgrades, and ensuring users update the app if this process is not automatic.

“Monitoring the quality of our user experience is a big challenge, like if there is buffering”, she said, admitting that this is a work-in-progress. Stream delivery must be optimised for non-managed networks. The TV app must also contend with any in-home Wi-Fi issues, of course. The Pay TV provider has already fixed one UX issue for its sports content by using CMAF to dramatically reduce the delay from when the STB signal arrives and when a stream plays out on the Smart TV app.

“We had to update our existing agreements with content providers to include the TV app in our portfolio,” Agrotou added. Having to use the television manufacturer’s remote control was not a problem, however. “We manged to put a lot of the navigation process into the UX.”

Cytavision on Smart TVs is the classic ‘app among apps’ model where the Smart TV maker’s UI is the home screen, and users then go into the Cyta app. When they exit the app, they return to the television’s default UI.

Related content:

Deutsche Telekom reveals its CPE roadmap: virtual STBs or its own version of Sky Glass, and away from standard Smart TV apps

Deutsche Telekom’s Bandeira: Let’s recreate the super-aggregator experience on phones and tablets

There is no long-term future for the standard Pay TV operator ‘app among apps’ model as seen on Smart TVs today, however, as this cannot support Deutsche Telekom’s big vision for what an aggregator should look like in future. Bandeira made it clear that the role of super-aggregator, multi-app subscriptions manager and holistic content discovery agent requires an elevated status for the Pay TV television screen presence. DT needs to be the primary app, not just another app, on any television, he believes.

Bandeira was speaking at Connected TV World Summit in London, and you can read about his ‘future aggregator’ and ‘future of operator CPE’ vision in a separate story, here.

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Cyta encouraging operator-as-an-app usage by selling Smart TVs on two-year instalment plan

He then made it clear that while the set-top box is the essential device for supporting these aims today, Deutsche Telekom will have to take a position directly on the glass [television set] itself, eventually, with less reliance on HDMI inputs. The company will have to enable a virtual STB scenario in collaboration with Smart TV makers – meaning an operator app replaces the STB, and this app is the default content and UI experience that someone sees when turning on their Smart TV (if that home is a customer of the Pay TV provider). If this cannot be achieved, DT will need to follow Sky’s example and launch their own Smart TVs.

Throughout his presentation, Bandeira spoke on behalf of Deutsche Telekom, outlining its plan and thinking. But this felt like his vision for an industry, too. His belief that a Pay TV provider must be present directly on the television glass chimes with the philosophy at Sky, which has already taken matters into its own hands with the revolutionary Sky Glass (a Sky OS/UX embedded into a private-labelled Smart TV designed and retailed by Sky). But where Sky moved directly to ‘building’ its own televisions, Bandeira made it clear that DT wanted to avoid this if, possible, and would first seek the Smart TV partnerships that would support the virtual STB model.

Bandeira began by outlining the challenges a Pay TV provider like Deutsche Telekom faces. “We are still in the middle of a transformation cycle that involves a shift from linear to non-linear consumption and also a very important change from service provider centric to content centric. Content brands that used to have us in the middle, as a broker, try to go direct-to-consumer to deliver their services.

“This is a fundamental change and something operators must be aware of as we prepare our TV services for the future.”

He outlined one all-embracing principle and three pillars that will underpin the future of Pay TV. First, the principle: “We must deliver an unbreakable service with the best video and audio quality. We must do a lot of background work to support this.” Then he moved onto the pillars.

“First and foremost, aggregate, aggregate, aggregate – and when you are tired of aggregation, aggregate some more! We must have the content [that consumers want] available. This is fundamental – it is what differentiates us from the other guys who do not have that content.” He added that content is king, and today some popular content may be hosted by one streaming service, and tomorrow it could move to another. It is the Pay TV provider’s responsibility to keep track and provide the access.

“Then you need to aggregate the subscriptions, enabling ‘subscribe’ and ‘unsubscribe’ [for the multiple subscription streaming apps that are onboarded as part of the super-aggregator role]. It is one thing to have the apps [the streaming content services, within your UX] but lots of people have them, so what is your real value, because over time that [having the apps] will not be enough. You need to put smartness into your aggregation.

“In the same way that someone can subscribe [to an app] in one click, they should be able to unsubscribe in one click directly on your TV service. It is very important that we give simplicity to consumers with one single billing relationship. We should be the main touchpoint with consumers who want to take those services. We are the middleman, so we must take ownership of this position.”

Bandeira’s third pillar is content-centric discovery. “This is where we can make a huge difference. Discovery should be independent of who is delivering the content. The consumer should not have to think about where the shows are that they want to consume, whether they are in Netflix, Disney or Amazon, and they might not know, anyway, but we have the answer for that.”

He pointed out that Deutsche Telekom’s focus on content aggregation, discovery and personalisation in the UI is not unique, and acknowledged that the quality of execution is key. “We do the fine-tuning based on the data, what is working and what is not working, and that is very important,” he pointed out.

Bandeira highlighted how Deutsche Telekom’s customer premise equipment strategy must align with these requirements, which led to the conclusion that the set-top box is still essential, for now. “The STB is the only place today where we can fully deliver on our vision for super-aggregation and a seamless subscribe/unsubscribe experience. I can’t do this on a third-party device. So, the STB is still central to our strategy today, but it can become less fundamental.”

The typical Pay TV operator app on a Smart TV, as seen today, is not part of the long-term CPE strategy, Bandeira revealed. “We are not happy to be just an app on an interface; I don’t want to be just an app.” He acknowledged that Deutsche Telekom’s Pay TV service (MagentaTV) is available on Smart TVs as an app, of course. [It is available on all Tizen OS Samsung Smart TVs since 2017, Sony Smart TVs running Android TV since 2015 and on all Android TV Smart TVs running Android 7, 8 and 9.] “But I am not happy to continue in this way in the future, as just an app on a Smart TV.

“If I am just an app on a Smart TV, then over time I will lose engagement with consumers because they will spend less time with me on my experience and more time with all the other apps that are available in the same UI. I can only replace the STB if I can replicate the STB experience without one, and that means I have to be the main app on the [Smart TV] ecosystem, where I contain the other apps [e.g. Netflix, Discovery, local broadcasters] in my app, as seen in my STB.”

Bandeira continued: “Being the aggregator that manages the subscribe and unsubscribe [across multiple third-party apps] is also fundamental, but this is very difficult if you are just one of the apps in the ecosystem. You have to control the experience, like you do today on the STB.”

This brought the Deutsche Telekom executive to his future CPE roadmap, because he made it clear that despite these reservations, his company does want to look beyond STBs. “Aggregating directly on the TV panel, without an STB, is the Holy Grail, and we need to do this. UIs in Smart TVs are becoming better and better. As an industry, we had a head-start on Smart TV makers, but they are catching up, and some UIs are becoming really good.

“These [Smart TV] guys are becoming our competitors with regards to aggregation, and they are well placed for this role because they have the [television] display in the customer home.”

So, how do you work around this, Bandeira asked the audience before answering for them. “We are working on two possible paths simultaneously, A and B. Either we will be successful with A, or we move to B,” he told the Connected TV World Summit audience.

“Path A is where you can broker a deal with TV providers in which you become the [primary] app. When someone buys the television, it asks if they are a Deutsche Telekom customer or if they take their Pay TV service from named competitors. If you are a Deutsche Telekom customer, you then get the Deutsche Telekom experience. We become the [primary TV] app. This is the path we would like to follow because doing [making, private-labelling, retailing] TVs is not our core business.

“But, if we are not successful on this path, we might need to go the other route, and ‘do’ televisions, in a similar way to Sky [with Sky Glass]. That is the only way you can continue to be relevant [as a Pay TV operator] in that case [where virtual STB on third-party branded Smart TVs is ruled out].”

Finally, Bandeira declared that Deutsche Telekom’s vision to be the super-aggregator and the subscriptions manager, as well as the primary content discovery agent, should not be limited to the STB today and the Smart TV (virtual STB or ‘DT Glass’) in the future. He is interested in mirroring this Pay TV role across multi-screen devices too, which requires a promotion for the classic operator TV Everywhere mobile/laptop app.

Noting that multiscreen devices are especially important to younger generations, he asked: “Why not apply the same vision to the smartphone or tablet, with an app that aggregates other apps? Of course, you can’t be the super-app on ecosystems that Google and Apple control, but you can still recreate the concept of an app that can aggregate other content apps and provide [unified] discovery and subscriptions [management]. That will give you service continuity between the experience you offer on a TV set and the experience you offer on these other touchpoints. This is a clear part of our vision.”

The DT executive concluded: “Our vision [for the role of Pay TV operators in future and the CPE that underpins it] puts us on a long path, and one we started a long time ago, but it is fundamental to the sustainability [economic] of the TV business, because we feel the TV ecosystem is going to become more and more challenged unless we do this. There is risk, but there is opportunity to capitalise by doing things that others cannot.”

Related content:

Cyta encouraging operator-as-an-app usage by selling Smart TVs on two-year instalment plan

However, as the market becomes more fragmented, and the increased cost of living hits the pockets of UK audiences, a growing number of viewers are seeking out ad-supported CTV offerings. Two-thirds of consumers state they would prefer watching a free ad-supported streaming service over a fee-based subscription option.

And where consumers head, brands are sure to follow. Marketers spent nearly £1 billion on advertising in CTV environments last year. This growth is only set to continue, with a predicted £2.3 billion being spent in 2026 in the UK alone. At the same time, this expanding market has become a double-edged sword for advertisers. While CTV offers increasing insights and access to more varied and niche audiences at scale, the audiences are watching across a number of platforms — with more options being introduced regularly — creating real challenges for cross-platform media buying and measurement.

With a growing interest in CTV’s potential to enhance the consumer viewing experience while also improving ROI on TV ad spend, advertisers must identify ways in which to measure, and maximise, the success of investments. This is especially true when investing in new channels and for those taking an experimental or staged approach in redistributing spend from linear to CTV — to provide accurate measurements of success, a holistic view across multiple channels must be achieved.

For the TV advertiser, new targeting and measurement strategies, such as those using Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) — when used in conjunction with traditional TV measurements — can solve fragmentation and empower marketers to make smart, data-driven advertising decisions.

Obtaining the full picture of TV data

Traditional industry measurement organisations, such as Barb, have long played a role in understanding audiences, and as TV viewing habits have evolved, so too have their practices. Barb, for example, recently announced plans to broaden its measurement remit to include video streaming platforms in a reflection of increased viewers on these channels. But if advertisers are to understand, and optimise, the success of their investments they will need to achieve a full audience, cross-channel picture, which broader, traditional industry reports alone cannot provide.

Using new datasets such as ACR — a privacy-first, anonymised alternative content identification technology — advertisers can understand a viewer’s content consumption to generate a more detailed picture of their viewing profile. By conducting a ‘glass-level’ analysis of content — in other words, by reviewing everything that is seen on the TV screen — visibility of audience behaviours and preferences is increased.

Marketers are able to analyse not only the audience’s source, whether it be an inbuilt app, games console or other device, but also reveal additional information such as network, show name, and viewing time. Insights like this, gathered from ACR, can also be used to supplement audience segmentation for smarter cross-device media plans.

Unifying data for effective activation

In such a fractured market, the unified, holistic oversight that ACR gives marketers is indispensable. But gathering data is only the first step towards maximising ad spend. Marketers must activate their findings to effectively drive targeting across smart TV and connected devices environments.

Content-level targeting has always assisted marketers to reach their defined audience, but ACR data takes this targeting a step further; ACR is deterministic. It allows marketers to more accurately advertise to niche audiences across various content inputs, via packages of targeted anonymised audience segments.

The ingestion of data across multiple devices and channels means audiences can be filtered into specific demographics — gamers, for example, can be identified based on their gaming-device usage and those insights leveraged to place relevant ads on their smart TV, and other connected devices. Obtaining data diversity is important to enhance campaigns, but achieving it without a robust advertising solution can be difficult. By bringing all audience data under the same roof and layering ACR data with an advertiser’s first- and third-party data sets — such as demographics, geo-location, and shopping behaviours — marketers can build fuller audience profiles in a privacy-compliant manner.

Understanding campaign success

With media budgets under increasing scrutiny, there is a pressing need to measure and prove the ROI of advertising campaigns — especially for TV — and to understand on a granular level the investments which proved successful or unsuccessful, in order to improve effectiveness.

Linear TV has been hampered in the past by its more panel-based approach to measurement and inability to provide for deterministic insights, leaving advertisers with a limited line of sight to actual results. By contrast, ACR offers advanced measurement capabilities — including ad completion rates and conversions such as tune-in, app downloads, web traffic, location behaviour, and even purchase — that allow marketers to better understand the incrementality of their ad campaign.

The ability to leverage deterministic channel and audience data, along with supplementary industry insights, means marketers can not only optimise their marketing activations, but also continue to recognise and invest in the most suitable CTV channels for their objectives and audience.

As the CTV advertising space continues to become more competitive, marketers cannot dive into their investments blind. Granular audience measurement data is the antidote to this, providing a holistic view across input devices — vital to the optimisation of campaigns and audience targeting. While traditional industry measurements can be a strong foundation for creating a successful campaign, supplementing the insights with additional details derived from ACR data will give marketers the vital insights they need.

Michele Uslenghi, General Manager – Italy, TP Vision, says: ‘We are continuingly developing our in-house Smart TV platform and our latest version will ensure that Philips Smart TVs are among the easiest, fastest and most intuitive available. Naturally, giving easy access to the best content is an essential part of that offering and by partnering with Mediaset Italia we can guarantee that our Italian customers enjoy an enhanced viewing experience.”

Pablo Falanga, Commercial Director, Mediaset Infinity, comments: “As the leader in the digital video market in Italy, we seek to constantly enhance and expand our content experience. By partnering with TP Vision, we give our viewers the additional option of easy access to the best Mediaset Infinity content in the highest quality via the Philips Smart TV platform. A key part of our journey to make our customers’ viewing experience better than ever before.”

NetRange Portal allows service providers to create one app that runs smoothly across every browser chip-set on Linux as well as on Android Operating Systems. The company says it offers the flexibility for clients to switch to new hardware or new technical components, without having to switch or modify the NetRange portal.

The Brazilian streaming service includes content from TV Globo (the largest Brazilian and Latin American TV network) and also offers channels such as Globo News, Sportv 1 Sportv 2 and Sportv 3, Universal TV, Studio Universal, SYFY and Canal Brasil and Futura. Users can also enjoy popular series such as Desalma and Departure and watch matches in the Brazilian football league Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A and B.

NetRange says its portals offers the simplest route to make apps available on Smart and connected TV. In addition to conducting integration work with operators, the company performs all the certification and testing procedures with Smart TV manufacturers, SoC vendors and content brands. It also provides continuous portal development and maintenance.

Michi Uemetsu, CTO, ACCESS CO., LTD, says: “LATAM is an incredibly important content region for NetRange. The relationship with Globoplay is a win-win for both companies. By enabling Smart TVs and connected devices to access Globoplay’s leading content, we strengthen our relationships with the leading TV manufacturers for the region, which in turn enables Globoplay to maximise its reach in Brazil.

“Globoplay shares our commitment to providing viewers with exceptional content combined with a premium user experience: with the latest NetRange Portal we enable Globoplay to provide smarter and better vídeo to TVs and all connected devices throughout Brazil.”

Hisense is the world’s second-largest TV brand by volume share of shipments. Launched in 2019, the company’s VIDAA platform is available in all Hisense markets and supports a broad range of Smart TV apps and technologies.

Philip Wågnert, Chief Technology & Product Officer, Viaplay Group, says: “Viaplay is a unique service, and we want our compelling line-up of premium Viaplay Originals, the world’s best live sports and much more to be easily available on every relevant platform. Teaming up with VIDAA will expand our reach and enable even more viewers, including in our upcoming North American markets, to experience Viaplay for themselves.”

Nick Ruczaj, Vice President of Content, VIDAA: “This is a very exciting opportunity for both parties as well as for streaming enthusiasts. At VIDAA, we believe in making streaming services accessible and affordable to a diverse demographic, and partnering with a leading industry player that offers a wide array of multinational content such as Viaplay is an essential part of that process.”

Comcast and Charter Communications have announced that their streaming joint venture will be branded Xumo. The companies have said the move will evolve the brand from a FAST service to an “entire entertainment ecosystem” which includes streaming devices, content and a streaming service.

Flex – the 4K streaming device Comcast licensed to the joint venture – will become Xumo Stream Box while Comcast’s Smart TV platform, XClass TV, will be called Xumo TV. According to the companies, users will be able to find their favourite streaming content easily through voice search and a “world-class” user interface.

Both Xumo Stream Box and Xumo TV will continue to be powered by Comcast, and Xumo will go-to-market with its first branded devices in late 2023 (distributed by Comcast, Charter and Walmart, with additional distributors still to be announced).

Xumo’s FAST service – which currently has hundreds of linear channels and on-demand option – will be rebranded Xumo Play. Xumo devices will comes with Xumo Play, giving customers access to the free content offering, and the service will continue to be available as an app on other platforms.

Marcien Jenckes, President, Xumo says: “Since 2011, the Xumo brand has connected with millions of customers across the country, establishing itself as a leader in the free ad-supported TV industry for the innovative ways it delivers content to its users.

“The new Xumo will bring industry leading streaming and aggregation technology nationwide through its expanding content, product line up, and retailer relationships.”