The smart TV OS wars ramped up again Monday, with Samsung announcing that its Linux-based Tizen operating system will now be licensed to third-party manufacturers for sets sold in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The announcement comes just days after fellow Korean consumer-electronics giant LG announced a major upgrade and expansion of the licensing program for its TVOS, which it calls webOS.
And in August, Xperi announced that Istanbul, Turkey-based Vestel, the biggest shipper of smart TVs in Europe, would begin selling TVs under brand names including Panasonic, Toshiba and JVC that use a Xperi's Linux-based "TiVo"-branded operating system.
Smart TV makers without the resources to develop and deploy TVOS on their own are seeking customizable solutions that let them sustain the branding on their devices while having greater control of data collection and advanced advertising, Xperi products chief Geir Skaaden told NextTV last month.
This is an alternative to licensing OS from Google, Amazon or Roku, which more thoroughly own and control the user experience.
For its part, Samsung didn't mention the term "customizable" even once in its Monday morning press release -- that was a point of emphasis in the earlier announcements from LG and Xperi.
However, Samsung did say that users of the licensed Tizen OS will enjoy all of the software system's major accoutrements -- access to the Samsung TV Plus FAST ecosystem, the Universal Guide discovery feature and the Bixby voice assistant.
Samsung said its initial licensing partners are "original development manufacturing" companies (ODMs) Atmaca (which makes TVs under the brand names Sunny and Axen), HKC (brands: RCA and Vispera) and Tempo (brands: Akai, Bauhn, Linsar).
Samsung is the largest supplier of smart TV OS in the world. According to data released by research company Omdia, the company on its own controlled nearly 20% of smart TV sales globally last year.
Throw in the heft of licensing partners, and Google, Amazon and Roku will have their hands even more full.
“Starting with these new Tizen-powered smart TVs, we will continue to expand the licensing program and introduce Tizen OS and its ecosystem to more products and brands around the world," said Yongjae Kim, executive VP of visual display business at Samsung Electronics, in a statement.
