Funai Electric Becomes First Consumer Electronics Manufacturer to Launch Cloud-Based Interactive Television Solution

Funai Electric Co., Ltd. and ActiveVideo Networks™ announced an agreement in principle that will make Funai the first consumer electronics manufacturer to bring interactive television solutions based entirely in the network cloud to connected televisions.

Funai Electric manufactures Philips, Emerson, Magnavox and Sylvania brand televisions and Blu-ray players. Funai and ActiveVideo anticipate that an announcement regarding availability of CloudTV-enabled products will be issued in the near future.

Under the agreement, Funai will integrate ActiveVideo’s CloudTV™ platform into selected television and Blu-ray player makes and models, enabling viewers to enter a revolutionary environment in which Web-based video, rich graphics and compelling applications are streamed, not downloaded, from servers in the network to Funai-made connected devices.

The CloudTV architecture offers a variety of benefits for the CE and developer communities, including the elimination of the need for more expensive processing and storage capabilities in the CE device; a “One Platform” approach in which a limitless array of content and applications can be written once and delivered to any device; and the minimization of software bugs by streaming, rather than downloading, content to the TV. For consumers, placing the intelligence in the network, and not in the home, ensures maximum functionality throughout the lengthy lifespans that are typical of CE devices, even as web standards evolve.

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Cablevision Systems & ActiveVideo Networks Announce Significant Rollout of CloudTV Interactive Channels

Cablevision Systems and ActiveVideo Networks, the global leader in cloud-based interactive solutions, announced that Cablevision has deployed and delivered more than two dozen new interactive channel experiences to its entire digital video customer base using the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform.

Cablevision, the nation’s fifth-largest cable system operator, is utilizing CloudTV to offer an expansive menu of personalized television content -- including hyper-local sports and news, advertising showcases, and mosaic programming -- to approximately 3 million subscribers in the New York tri-state area. The lineup includes MSG Varsity Interactive, News12 Interactive and a variety of other channels and advertising showcases that are designed to serve specific interests of Cablevision subscribers. In addition, the ActiveVideo platform is powering Quick View kids, sports and news navigational mosaic channels.

Using the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform and content developer’s kit (CDK), Cablevision is able to write Web-based content once for delivery as a single MPEG stream to any digital set-top box. Because CloudTV development is based on standard Web tools and talents, applications that previously took years to create can now be built, tested and deployed in just a few months. Subscribers use standard remote controls to search for, select and engage with video and information just as they can on the Web, but within the “lean-back” environment of television.