The H ‘app-less’ ness that is all Smarts in the TV

I was challenged to write something on this topic so I will. Only because I am not a fan of people using a public stage to make sweeping statements about an entire industry as if it was a given. One person’s opinion does not make it fact, and before anything is said sideways, that includes mine ;-).

0n to the Tothe topic: The EBU Broadthinking 2016 event in Geneva, Switzerland had an interesting presentation that implicated a discussion around that terrible beast of a product i.e. the Set Top Box. The speaker, stated publicly that nobody likes STBs, because of the wires and because they add to the pool of disliked remote controls in the living room … he went on to state that everything should be in a single device i.e. the TELEVISION. Haven’t we heard this a million times over?

MAY 30, 2008 — Apple TV and the death of the cable set-top box

Of course any talks with Pay TV Operators always evokes the dislike around their outlay (capex) and support of STBs in their networks. Wouldn’t they love to have no responsibility whatsoever for the terminating equipment in the home? This is a well trodden carpet, however it is part of their tried and tested business model. It is all about ownership and responsibility to maintain the service as sold in today’s TV market. It may change, but not anytime soon I suspect.

The Smart TV revolution came along and it was suddenly the death of the STB all over again. However this technology has highlighted that this is merely a deceptive business model. The consumer is being duped. Complex TVs age quicker than anticipated. Things stop working. I am not talking about the video technology or TV part of the TV, I am talking about the Apps and Software installed therein. The full functionality of the smart device cannot be guaranteed once it leaves the store. One upgrade of an App can see a service stop working. The TV manufacturer points to the software provider and the software provider points back and hey-presto, no ownership! Where does that leave the hapless consumer?

YouTube app will stop working on older smart TVs and iOS devices

STBs (at a fraction of the cost of a Smart TV), in the main, turn the Smart TV into a dumb monitor…admittedly that’s not very clever either. My new ‘smart’ TV has a lot of Apps and services, of which some are redundant and it does a software update every 2nd week. The TV actually has more wires going in and out of it than the STB underneath — 4HDMI slots, USB, DTT cable and a Satellite cable not to mention the RJ45 Ethernet connection. Why so many wires? Sources of course. You may add a STB and an additional media player or box; Roku is a STB, Apple is a STB, Amazon Fire is a STB, the Blu-ray player and an audio system these can all adds to the wiring. The TV delivers what it is supposed to deliver and that is video, pictures and sound.

My Pay TV STB, has 9 tuners and a PVR, WiFi and a RF remote control with keyboard for search and Apps. It has an extremely rich User Interface with Reverse EPG, Pause & Start-Over for linear live TV via the EPG…It is far more user friendly and responsive than using any services via the TV over the Internet. I like that and is is what I expect from the service. If it goes wrong a simple phone call fixes it. I have called once in 3 years because all the features and services simply work.

As Charles Arthur wrote in the Guardian: When a smart TV costing thousands can be hobbled by a third party’s tweak to a software interface that brings no obvious user benefits, it erodes our trust in the edifice of the technology world.

The discussion regarding the TV replacing the STB is as old as the hills, a subject that will not go away despite the fact that it has never happened nor ever will! Not everyone dislikes the STB, not everyone loves it either. Pay TV Operators look after their STB technology and therefore their customers too by having ownership and control of the STB. If they too become an App on a TV then we will see the final demise of not just the STB business, but the overall business of television for good. The STB is dead, long live the STB. (There … I have just put a nail in its coffin ;-).

Here is another view for balance:Should I buy a Smart TV? No, Smart TVs are dead