Around 3.5 million Swiss people watch TV every day. Whether linear or streamed: the big screen remains the preferred device. What has changed is the technology behind it: Netstream TV now relies on Android TV.
Netstream TV runs on the TV, in the browser and on smartphones and tablets. We call the TV the First Screen, because it is the primary screen for the TV experience. The previous First Screen app ran on Linux. Solid, but increasingly a bottleneck: tightly tied to specific hardware, laborious to develop further, difficult to brand. Android TV has established itself as the industry standard for modern STBs and smart TVs. The vast majority of devices sold today run on Android TV. We rebuilt from scratch.
New app and complete redesign
The home screen has been completely rethought. Instead of a rigid view, there are lanes with relevant content: Now on TV, Replay, Recordings, Continue Watching and more. Navigation, design and interaction follow a consistent design principle that runs across all Netstream TV platforms.
Android TV: an industry standard with pitfalls
Android TV is today the dominant platform in the STB market. For ISPs and telcos, this means a wider choice of hardware, an established developer ecosystem and no proprietary lock-in. Choosing Android TV means moving with the market.
Procurement nevertheless remains a challenge. Around 34% of chip manufacturers report delays due to ongoing semiconductor shortages, which directly affect delivery times for STB components. This is not a new situation, but one that still applies today. Anyone planning STBs needs to factor in lead times.
The good news, however, is that we can roll out our app on practically any available Android STB. So new devices are very often not needed at all.
Netstream TV as a whitelabel solution
The First Screen app is only one part of the ecosystem. It is complemented by mobile apps for iOS and Android, WebTV in the browser and a complete management platform for end customers, devices and packages, available either via a web portal or a RESTful API.
Anyone who wants to build their own TV offering today faces a complex task: sourcing signals, running infrastructure, developing apps, managing store listings. Netstream TVaaS takes care of all of this as an end-to-end solution.
Thanks to proven processes, new tenants go live in a few weeks, not months. There are no high barriers to entry, and flexible pricing models make sense for smaller providers too. The platform scales with growth, whether 500 or 250’000 end customers.
The apps appear under the provider’s name and branding. Logos, colours, splash screens, app store listings: Netstream stays invisible.
Interested in Netstream TV as a whitelabel solution? Book a demo or contact us directly.
Roadmap and releases
Netstream has been developing TV solutions since 2004. Back then, we were the first Swiss company to launch a real-time live online TV platform; adsl.tv was far ahead of its time. A lot has changed since then: the platform, the technology, the devices. What has remained is the ambition to deliver TV experiences that work.
Today we are happy to work in the background, enabling ISPs, telcos and other providers to offer their customers their own TV product. How we are developing the solution further is publicly visible.
To the changelog: netstream.ch/tv-updates
