ActiveVideo, the cloud video joint venture of Arris and Charter Communications, said it has notched a deal to help Japan’s J:COM roll out a new “web-like” VOD interface for the operator’s already deployed set-top boxes.
They said the new user experience will feature snappier response times and integrate personalized searches, without requiring J:COM to change out its set-top boxes.
J:COM is enabling it using ActiveVideo’s virtualized CloudTV GuideCast technology, which renders the HTML5 user interface in the cloud and delivers it to boxes as an MPEG video stream that can be supported by QAM-only or IP-capable boxes that are outfitted with the CloudTV Nano client module.
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The J:COM deployment is a significant one for ActiveVideo, which was acquired in 2015 by an Arris-Charter joint venture and also works with other MVPDs such as Altice USA, Liberty Global and Deutsche Telekom. Arris holds a 65% of the J.V. and serves as the sales channel for ActiveVideo's CloudTV platform outside of sales to Charter.
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J:COM serves about 5.28 million homes in the Sapporo, Sendai, Kanto, Kansai, and Kyushu-Yamaguchi regions. It's been a known customer of ActiveVideo's, but today's announcement marks the deployment phase of their relationship.
“The user interface is the customer’s point of entry to our on-demand library,” said Masaaki Agaya, GM, service planning division at J:COM, in a statement. “The power of the cloud has enabled us to offer our subscribers a next-generation UX that overnight is opening the door to engaging new viewing experiences on the same familiar set-top boxes.”
“J:COM’s success is further proof of how STB virtualization allows operators to rapidly transform user experiences for every subscriber by enabling delivery of faster, larger and more intuitive user experiences,” added Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo.
