TVUP Media Telecom is taking part in an innovative project to develop SocialTV with the support and funding of the Eurostars programme. Today, millions of people share their TV experience with other viewers on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, using smartphones and tablets in real-time as events unfold. We want to go one step further. In a nutshell, SocialTV is an e2e TV OTT solution supporting a feature called “co-watching“, which allows remote users to meet virtually, watch the same program and interact (voice/chat, etc.) through their mobile devices. 

The virtual kick-off meeting of the “SocialTV project” took place on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021. Three partners, two from Spain and one from Korea, shared the project’s objectives, the expectations, and the results they want to achieve in the next 24 months.  

Each partner will bring its expertise to the development of the project. TVUP Media will collaborate with our already existing OTT platform Tivify. Optiva Media will add features for group viewers and metadata-based content management to decide what to watch according to friends’ preferences. Finally, Salin from Korea will integrate the co-watching subsystem by adding features such as building friendship among users, virtual group sessions, AR/VR, and voice/text chat. 

TVUP Media is involved in all the work packages and leading the following ones: 

• Stream synchronisation between co-watching participants. 
• User profiling: the collection of user activity for characterising the recommendation module.  
• Integration of the co-watching subsystem into Tivify’s UX (focus on Android TV and second screen). 
• Product specification and pilot deployment of the end-to-end TV service on top of which all the features are integrated. 

At TVUP, we pride ourselves on pioneering technologies that bring us closer to our customers and make our entertainment experience better every day. We are very excited about our role in the SocialTV project and this new challenge and will continue working to develop the future of television.