The BBC iPlayer and on demand movies service Lovefilm will feature on a new range of connected TVs being showcased by Samsung Electronics. Between 70 and 100 applications will feature on the Samsung platform, dubbed Internet@TV, including video, music, social networking, news and games.
It is not the first time that the iPlayer has been integrated directly into a television display, in December UK-based Cello Electronics unveiled the iViewer, available in branches of Marks & Spencer. The iPlayer also available through games consoles and set-top boxes, including the Freesat Beta that has now been made publically available.
“People are getting more familiar with on-demand TV services, and with more internet-connected TVs coming into the market this year, we’ve built a version of BBC iPlayer that can be easily adapted to work on internet-connected TVs,” explained Erik Huggers, BBC director of Future Media and Technology. “Innovation partnerships such as this with Samsung, help us in our goal of making our catch-up services available to as wide a range of licence fee payers as possible.”
An application for the movie download service Lovefilm is also available within the Samsung connected TV range. The company is migrating its business from packaged media sent through the postal system to electronic downloads and online streaming.
