Why CTV OEMs Like LG and Samsung Own Their OS
Building, owning, and operating a Connected TV operating system is a complicated strategic and business decision for TV manufacturers whose traditional role was to build and sell boxes. Some CTV OEMs haven’t gone the OS route, while others like LG and Samsung have. LG’s Matthew Durgin and Samsung Ads’ Justin Fromm discuss why some CTV OEMs run their own OSes, and others don’t in this candid discussion with TVREV’s Alan Wolk from Streaming Media NYC.
“Not every OEM has their own operating system,” Wolk says. “A lot of them just didn't go there.” He asks Durgin what LG’s impetus was for creating its own OS.
The early Blu-Ray influence on OEM OS development
Durgin provides a bit of a unique history as to the origins of OEM OS development. “The reason why the network became interesting for manufacturers actually didn't start on TV,” Durgin says. “It started on Blu-Ray because the Blu-Ray spec began introducing this idea called BD Live. The original vision was that you'd watch a Blu-ray, and then you could have some interactive or additive content. And so the Blu-Ray spec introduced the idea of an ethernet port in the back of the device.” He says that around 15 years ago, this allowed viewers to use sites such as Netflix and YouTube experimentally and interactively.
Why and how LG developed its own OS
As to why LG ultimately developed its own OS, Durgin says, “In the early days of this, there were these things called Yahoo Widgets.” He says the general questioning at that time was, “How are we going to develop this? Is it going to be our own app store? Is it going to be Yahoo Widgets, or is Yahoo Widgets going to run all of the TV operating systems? Most of the TV manufacturers at that time were doing this. They wanted to try to limit how many engineering groups you have to talk to to make your product, especially if you are sitting there with 2000 or 3000 engineers like Samsung and LG. So you started figuring out how you could do this yourself.
“And then, in 2013, LG acquired Web OS from Palm, which we turned into our HTML5-based operating system. And at the time, HTML5 hadn't even been fully ratified. So, between 2008 and 2013, you're dealing with many crazy technologies. Netflix [was] handing you C++ code for their app. There was a moment when Adobe Flash was involved in this business. Once HTML5 became a reality, I think I had unlocked the door to a consistent engineering experience. And since then, it's been pretty easy.”
Samsung and its OS Tizen
Wolk mentions that Samsung has its OS, Tizen, and he asks Fromm to discuss the advantages to Samsung for developing and running it on their TVs.
Fromm says that he was at ABC during the early days of these developments. “We were predicting at that time that the way to get the internet into the living room was the Xbox, like the Blu-ray player. Then, all the apps started being ported to that. That was the available input into the television set. It was obvious to the manufacturers that it was much better for them to host this themselves than just to continue to be a dumb box. Plus, as Matt [Durgin] was saying, you are already upgrading and creating this technology for your other devices. So, the operating system allows you to offer another service to your consumer. You have this big, beautiful television set that people have spent some time researching before they buy it. They're really excited to pull it out of the box and put it on the wall and watch television because it's going to look much better than it ever has. And so we might as well have the opportunity to bring them more entertainment, more information, and be a central hub to the home for the viewer.”
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