The French DTH and IPTV platform CanalSat will launch a new connected TV service called Eureka that lets subscribers find their favourite programmes.
Speaking to Le Figaro, distribution director Maxime Saada said the new service aims to bring the speed and comfort of Google or Apple TV to the TV screen. “Eureka is not a search engine, but a solution that finds. Our engine analyses the viewing of our subscribers during the past 15 days and recommends every night the six programmes that best match from our 300 channels. Our ambition is also to introduce programmes that subscribers would not have found themselves. The abundance of available programming often discourages the viewer. ”
Eureka will search to the average of 1,000 hours of programming a day that is available on the 300-odd channels of the platform. The service will also search the catch-up TV and VOD offers of the platform.
The Eureka service will be available to both satellite DT and IPTV customers, but a broadband connection is always needed. The operator said that 2 million households out of its total of 5.5 million subscribers are connected to the internet.
For music lovers, CanSat will also launch M6Music Player, a service which – like Apple’s iTunes Genius engine – will offer a 100 different music play lists. Together with Nickelodeon, CanalSat will also make recommendations for kids VOD programming and on the Ciné + channels, the service will recommend other movies that the viewer might like at the end of each movie. This service was pioneered by Orange Cinéma Séries and is now introduced to all the Ciné + channels.
CanalSat is now also making its channels available on mobile devices, including the iPad. The cooperation to external devices also includes Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which now also offers users the possibility to use Kinect instead of a remote control to navigate through CanaSat’s services.
The Canal Group also plans to add the ‘+’ sign to all channels from the group, such as Planete, Comedie and others. The platform will also promote the exclusive distribution deals it has with channels such as 13e Rue, TF6 and National Geographic. Finally, a new logo is introduced (see picture above).
