3 Screen Solutions (3SS), a provider of software solutions for set-top boxes (STB), smart TV, multiscreen and in-vehicle entertainment, and t4h. (Tech4home), a global enabler in remote control solutions for IPTV, OTT and pay-TV operators and in sustainable home entertainment technologies, today announced a collaboration to deliver a pre-integrated solution to enhance entertainment user experiences (UX).
The remote control is the most widely deployed device in pay-TV, and it remains the least commercially exploited. It sits in every subscriber’s household and is picked up daily, yet for decades its role has been limited to passing commands to a set-top box. Operators have been looking for new ways to generate revenue from the assets they already own, and this collaboration is designed to open exactly that opportunity.
t4h. designs the Remote Control Unit (RCU) device and the technology within it, while 3SS provides the UX and platform layer that sits between the set-top box and the service, connecting the two to create an end-to-end hardware and software solution through which operators manage, distribute and monetise their offerings. Pre-integrating t4h.’s programmable RCU with 3Ready Platform removes the integration effort, so operators receive a working solution rather than a set of components which they’d need to bring together themselves.
Programmable buttons: shortcuts that are no longer fixed at the factory
Traditionally, every pay-TV remote control ships with shortcuts hardcoded to services that may lose traction, rebrand, or fall out of the operator’s content strategy within months of deployment. With device fleets running into tens of millions of units, replacing hardware to refresh a shortcut has never been a realistic option.
t4h.’s programmable keys are not hard-wired to a single function. Operators can reassign them remotely and subscribers can configure up to four keys (depending on model) around their own viewing habits, so the device is shaped from both sides. Keys can launch apps, expose contextual functions in the user interface, or open a voice assistant such as 3Ready Hero. A single press takes a viewer directly into the service they want, with no browsing, menus or searching.
Reassignment is handled centrally through 3Ready Control Center, the platform 3SS created for service providers to manage, curate, brand and operate their user experiences in real time, seamlessly across devices, markets and brands. It gives operators one place to configure and target keys across an entire fleet, so a change made once reaches every device it is intended for.
AdaptiveKey: turning the remote control into a revenue channel
t4h.’s AdaptiveKey is where the new revenue stream sits. t4h. integrates an interactive display into the key itself, so the label on the key, the destination behind it and the function it performs are all defined in software and driven through 3Ready Control Center. The t4h. technologies, including the programmable buttons and AdaptiveKey, are operated through that layer. As a result, a shortcut is no longer a decision fixed at the point of manufacture, and the key becomes a space that operators can manage, promote and monetise.
This transforms the RCU from a passive input tool into a communications and marketing channel with measurable value. Operators can run promotional messages and sponsored placements displayed directly on the remote, launching real-time targeted campaigns without replacing or touching any hardware in the home. Recommendations can be personalised to individual subscriber profiles, from sports packages to a new drama series. Keys can be sponsored, with premium positions offered to OTT partners and other content providers, and realigned to seasonal campaigns and new partnerships as they are signed, all without any change in on-premise equipment.
Campaigns are built and targeted in 3Ready Control Center, so what previously required market-specific hardware produced ahead of service launch is now a software update to devices already in subscribers’ homes. Its inbuilt analytics capture granular information on how each key is used, letting operators see how the remote control is used, assess the value of each key, and experiment at speed with confidence in user acceptance.
This t4h. technology has already been independently recognised. The AdaptiveKey-powered Alva Programmable Buttons won the German Innovation Award 2026 from the German Design Council, and the Notus RCU with Programmable Buttons carries the same design pedigree, recognised with the Red Dot Award 2026.
“For decades, the remote control has been the one part of the TV experience no one could change after launch. Now, with AdaptiveKey running on 3Ready, operators can decide how every programmable key looks, what it does, says and earns, from 3Ready Control Center, for every home at once,” says Pierre Donath, Chief Product and & Marketing Officer at 3SS.
“By putting t4h.’s highly user-centric RCU in the palms of subscribers, while giving service providers new powers, control and flexibility for programming and monetising the device, we’re providing an end-to-end platform to engage with customers in new ways,” he added.
“We did not set out to add features to a remote control. We set out to change what a remote control is for,” said Miguel Oliveira, Co-Founder and CEO at t4h. (Tech4home).
“Operators in every market tell us the same thing: They have a device in tens of millions of homes, in the hand of the subscriber every single day, and until now there was almost no way to make business use of it. AdaptiveKey gives them that device back as a channel they own and can measure; working with 3SS is what places it inside the service, because the software is where an operator runs its business. A key that can be changed in software becomes something an operator can plan around, promote and earn from,” he added.
Live with Viaplay Group
The first customer for the solution is Viaplay Group, which last month went live with a next-generation STB user experience for its flagship super-aggregated entertainment service, Allente. t4h.’s Notus RCU with programmable buttons, combined with 3Ready Control Center, sits at the heart of the experience now reaching Allente subscribers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
