ActiveVideo Expands with Funai TVs
ActiveVideo Networks now has a presence in over 5 million U.S. homes. By the end of 2011, it will be in over 20 million, predicts Edgar Villalpando, its senior vice president of marketing. A major part in how the company will get there is in a partnership just announced at CES: Funai Electric Co. of Osaka, Japan, will soon market connected televisions and Blu-ray players using ActiveVideo's technology.
If the name Funai doesn't ring a bell, then perhaps a few of its brands—-Philips, Emerson, Magnavox, and Sylvania—will.
ActiveVideo, which has sagely trademarked the term Cloud TV, is a five-year-old company dedicated to providing cloud services to televisions. Its central idea is to deliver video content in a lowest-common denominator video format playable on any legacy cable or satellite box. By removing the processing from the box and putting it in the cloud, it allows any content to be streamed. It's currently used by Cablevision, Time Warner, and other international companies.
This deal marks the first time that ActiveVideo's technology will be used in a connected television. While Villalpando can't give exact number of Funai sets and disc players in 2011 that will contain his company's technology, he says that "a good portion of them will."
The deal will use ActiveVideo's platform to provide access to YouTube videos, Facebook, and Tag games to home viewers. Because the content is cloud-based, new programming can be added without any software download needed. In fact, Villalpando says there will be major content announcements following in just a few weeks.
"It's open territory right now in terms of content, and we've built the pipe," Villalpando says.
While at CES, ActiveVideo Networks also demonstrated new features, such as iPhone apps and social viewing with friends, that should be available to viewers in the near future.
Related Articles
CloudTV is unquestionably attractive, flexible, and useful, so what does it take to win some major clients?
10 Jan 2013
The battle for video-on-demand intellectual property escalates, as ActiveVideo asserts its court victory.
15 Aug 2011
Jury decision upholds ActiveVideo's rights to VOD and interactive TV patents; Verizon promises an appeal.
03 Aug 2011
At CES, Cisco's director of video solutions talks about the company's new Videoscape offering and its aim to deliver video to as many connected TVs and devices as possible
08 Jan 2011
Announcements from Boxee expand the content available and the devices that can play it.
06 Jan 2011
LG, Samsung, and Sharp all emphasized market strategies based on internet-connected televisions and other smart devices
06 Jan 2011
Company introduces Smart Hub feature, which includes search for finding content on TV, networked devices, or online
06 Jan 2011
Company hits major themes of 3D viewing and recording, connected televisions during CES 2011 keynote, and introduces Viera Tablet
06 Jan 2011
In advance of this week's Consumer Electronics Show, expectations and rumors about about Google's nascent set-top box platform
04 Jan 2011