Pay TV operators take lots of customer care calls from subscribers who cannot find the service, having switched inputs to HDMI 2 or ‘TV’. A new ‘Home’ button on a remote control automatically turns the television set back to the STB input source.
Nearly one-in-five calls to a Pay TV operator customer care centre (18% to be precise) relate to problems controlling the device, like somebody not being able to find their service on the television set, according to Wilko Danne, Sales Director Subscription Broadcasting at Universal Electronics. A common problem is that a television set has been switched to a different input, like HDMI 2 for a game console or connected streaming box, and the call centre will have to spend minutes identifying what is wrong and then talking someone through the solution. This problem is only going to get worse as the number of devices connected to the television set increases, he reckons.
Universal Electronics believes it has the solution to this problem – a remote control that comes with a ‘Home’ button that, when pressed, automatically switches the television set to the correct HDMI input for the operator set-top box. Danne points out that it is not just alternative HDMI inputs but the ‘TV’ source itself that rival the Pay TV operator service for consumer attention. “If you buy a Samsung Smart TV they will want to offer their services,” he notes. The sooner subscribers are back on the STB input, the better!
If the television is actually off, the ‘Home’ button can be used to turn the television on and automatically set it to HDMI 1 (or whatever HDMI connection the Pay TV operator set-top box is plugged into), ensuring it starts with the operator service already visible. “You need to keep the customer happy, so cannot hide the other services, but you also want to keep the end user on your Pay TV platform,” Danne points out.
Danne is convinced that the classic handheld remote control, maybe modernized to include touch-pad controls for scrolling left-to-right or up-and-down, will remain the dominant way to access a Pay TV service. Virtual remote controls on smartphones or tablets have their place but tend to be used when someone is in an ‘active’ user mindset (he reckons that Germans even tend to place a smartphone or tablet on the coffee table and lean over it to make their commands). Because most people need to look at the smartphone or tablet screen to tap commands, this is an inferior experience when someone is in ‘passive’ or lean-back viewing mode, Universal Electronics believes.
The potential for the smartphone is also limited because you cannot count on it being available. There may not be a smartphone in the living room when you are watching television, or the smartphone may not be charged (or is charging somewhere else). So the classic remote control is going nowhere, Danne predicts. “The market has accepted that the smartphone will not replace it.”
He believes remote controls with Apple iPod style touch-pad finger scrolling, like the ones Universal Electronics was showing at ANGA COM this week, combine the best of both worlds. They make it easier to navigate through menus but, crucially, allow you to do this while looking at the television set rather than at the device in your hand.
