DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS THE A-Z OF ANDROID, INCLUDING OPERATOR TIER A WHITE PAPER BY 3SS AND TECHNICOLOR September 2018 Authors: Stefan Blickensdörfer, Cynthia Ritchie CONTENTS 4 INTRODUCTION 7 ANDROID TV BENEFITS AT A GLANCE 10 AOSP, ANDROID TV AND OPERATOR TIER 16 BUILDING BLOCKS OF AN ANDROID TV SOLUTION 25 CASE STUDY – COM HEM LAUNCHES FIRST HYBRID TV OPERATOR TIER PLATFORM 29 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS – 3SS & TECHNICOLOR – SEPT 2018 2 FOREWORD The growing interest in es to be made: operators Android TV within the cannot forbid the presence pay-TV community is one of apps from rival media of the biggest technolo- companies in Google Play gy stories in our industry Store or prevent their con- in recent years. It follows tent from being surfaced the emergence of the during a user search, for Android TV Operator Tier example (although oper- version of the set-top box ator content can be pri- (STB) OS and a growing oritized in search results). choice of trusted vendors Nevertheless, a growing and which help platform from the ‘traditional’ TV number of operators view operators to remain the space who can help op- these as acceptable trade- content discovery agent erators make the move offs in return for the bene- of choice, which in turn to open source software fits of using Android. protects their position as and Android as part of a an aggregator of popular next-generation STB pro- So what are those ben- (and perhaps increasingly, ject. efits? To summarise more specialized) content. the main ones, you get Vendor ecosystems have Android TV Operator popular OTT apps on- already formed that can Tier is a viable alterna- boarded quickly without help an operator launch tive to RDK for operators time-consuming custom a market-leading set-top seeking open source STB integrations. All the must- box experience in around software. It is evidence of have apps and games are a year, using Android TV Google’s determination readily available in Goog- Operator Tier. Time-to- to establish a presence on le Play Store. You get a market is another key operator-managed STBs powerful universal search Android benefit. as another end-point for facility that helps users Android. We know from find content across multi- Different implementations conversations with oper- ple sources, with access to of Operator Tier are in ators and vendors how voice search (via Google the market, so the pool of seriously Google is taking Assistant), which has the experience working in the this market opportunity. potential to revolutionize Android TV environment content discovery. Users is growing. Google seems Operator Tier gives plat- can ‘cast’ content from to have found the right form operators near-total mobile devices to the formula for an operator control over the look- television via Chromecast, device software play. We and-feel and branding of which is built-in. expect Android to become their user interface and, commonplace. crucially, ensures that their In short, you get a bunch service is the default view of advanced features that John Moulding when a set-top box boots are central to a next-gen- Editor-in-Chief, Videonet up. There are compromis- eration STB experience DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS – 3SS & TECHNICOLOR – SEPT 2018 3 INTRODUCTION COMMENT adapt nimbly to the needs of the market and our sub- scribers’ expectations. The collaboration among our in-house teams work- ing so closely with trust- ed technology partners throughout this project is something we are es- pecially proud of: In the process we learned new approaches to product de- The way we work has velopment, and new ways changed as a result of the of working day-to-day to Com Hem TV Hub project, deliver innovation which is thanks to our close co-op- infusing how we do things eration with 3SS, Techni- across our business. color, Verimatrix, as well as Google and Netflix. Time Thomas Helbo to market was accelerated, CTO, Com Hem having launched in under 12 months, through new agile development prac- tices which 3SS, as lead integrator, introduced. Subscribers are using the new functionalities in the STB and we are delighted. Android TV Operator Tier is enabling us to deliver a world-class, and contin- ually growing, service to viewers. We have moved from being a broadcast- er-centric entertainment environment to being able to deliver a holistic propo- sition that embraces inter- net and streaming-based entertainment, and able to DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS – 3SS & TECHNICOLOR – SEPT 2018 4 Swisscom was the first ma- projects, we at 3SS have a jor operator to break away deep understanding of the from the traditional pay-TV diverse success factors and model for its STB deploy- preconditions, for overall WHY THIS WHITE ment in 2012 as it began system architecture as well PAPER? to consider Android AOSP as UI/UX, that need to be (Android Open Source considered to optimize an Project) as the basis for its Android-based STB plat- platform. form. Many observers at the In this white paper we take time believed that a STB a look at the evolution of based on Android simply the Android proposition would not work. However, for pay-TV, examining since the debut of Swiss- some of the options for com TV 2.0 in 2014, and Android deployments. the subsequent launch of its UHD service, the An- In June 2018, together droid-based Swiss plat- with Videonet, we hosted The Android TV revolution form has become widely a live webcast focusing has begun. What’s aston- regarded as having set a on Com Hem TV Hub, in ishing to some is just how new benchmark for usa- collaboration with Tech- rapid its development and bility and monetization nicolor and Verimatrix. momentum have been and potential. The webinar attracted a the enthusiasm with which huge global audience, operators worldwide are Fast-forward to February many of whom submitted embracing Android. 2018 when Canal Digital questions. Time restric- launched its next gener- tions meant that we were Service providers today ation UHD satellite and unable to address most of recognise the need to OTT platform for the these queries. We answer deliver TV and multiscreen Nordic region based on a selection of these at the offerings that meet the Android TV with custom end of this white paper. needs of an ever-demand- launcher. And in April ing public. 2018, the world’s first We hope that you find this hybrid Android TV Opera- document useful as you As people interact and tor Tier deployment went begin to plan your An- toggle between watching live with Swedish provider droid projects, including ‘traditional’ TV and their Com Hem, enabling two Operator Tier. Whether handhelds they want the distinct services to deliver you are an established in- user experience to main- custom viewing experienc- cumbent or a new entrant, tain an elegant flow. So es via the same, unified our dedicated Android TV operators are increasingly platform. Android TV has experts are standing by to eager to deliver the most developed dramatically in help you grow your busi- popular services, features the intervening years. ness by bringing next-gen and apps normally resident Android TV services to on mobiles and laptops as Operator Tier is a true your audiences. part of their pay-TV offer- game changer. With all ings. our experience deploying Kai-Christian Borchers these pioneering Android Managing Director, 3SS DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS – 3SS & TECHNICOLOR – SEPT 2018 5 COMMENT and increase competi- tiveness by meeting the consumer’s demand for a wider range of entertain- ment services than typi- cally available in today’s broadcast-OTT operations. Of course, the require- ments set by Google for licensing Android for use with Google Play Store and GTVS (Google TV Android TV has proven Services) are rigorous in very popular among con- order to guarantee the sumers, first as a prolon- best quality of experience. gation of their smartphone As a Google partner for experience and now even five years, our expertise, more so with its wide se- combined with that of our lection of apps tailored to partners such as 3SS, en- the TV world. ables service providers to deploy their video strategy The release of the Opera- in an unrivalled timeframe. tor Tier version of Android With Android TV, devel- TV has also increased the opers spend less time in attractiveness of the sys- middleware development/ tem for service providers testing/debugging and who can now offer the more time on innovation. long awaited fully-branded We see every day how experience to their cus- exciting it is to drive new tomers. The solution is a service creation and there no-brainer for those who is no doubt this new Op- want to bridge managed erator Tier version is going and unmanaged IP stream- to fuel users’ appetite for ing services seamlessly seamless and personalized and provide a controlled content discovering and service quality versus a consumption. pure OTT solution. Service providers have the oppor- Gaetan Delcroix tunity to enhance their VP Video Product Unit combined broadcast-IP Technicolor Connected streaming service offerings Home DEPLOYING ANDROID TV STBS – 3SS & TECHNICOLOR – SEPT 2018 6 ANDROID TV BENEFITS AT A GLANCE Benefits of Android TV to operators • Attractive Google services, pre-integrated features and services out-of-the-box (e.g. app-store, voice-search, Chromecast, …) • Streamlined licensing regime due to pre-agreements in Google Play Store apps • Access to a large community of developers in contrast to using proprietary systems, yielding time and cost efficiencies • Cost efficient – reduces