Uruguay's TCC Selects SDMC and 3SS to Deploy Hybrid Android TV Service

3 Screen Solutions (3SS), a provider of software solutions for set-top boxes (STB) and multiscreen entertainment, and SDMC, a professional Google-certified company for Android TV smart STBs, together announce that Uruguayan cable and OTT service provider TCC has gone live with its next-generation hybrid TV platform, based on Android TV™ OS Operator Tier.

The new service is enabled by SDMC’s DV8545-C STB and powered by the 3READY Product Framework, 3SS’ award-winning front end and UI solution for all devices featuring an operator-tailored Android TV Custom Launcher.

TCC provides pay-TV services in the country’s capital, Montevideo, including cable (146 DVB-C channels) and OTT via its TCC VIVO platform along with 3SS-engineered apps for Android and iOS mobile devices. The new next-gen hybrid+multiscreen TCC VIVO service is now available with customized 3SS-designed launcher on the SDMC STB, offering access through a single device to all Live and VOD content in an experience that integrates all TCC’s content sources and networks.

ZetaTV – TCC’s B2B managed cable+OTT service platform for Latin America’s providers

Furthermore, TCC is offering the new hybrid Android TV-based software platform as a B2B SaaS under the ‘ZetaTV’ brand (zetatv.com.uy) to the wider pay-TV industry in Latin America, for DVB-C, OTT or both, using a licensing business model. As a result, TCC is extending its technology, 3READY-enriched UX and quality standards to its operator-customers in Uruguay and elsewhere in the region for their own next-gen Android TV projects.

TCC-enabled deployments for neighbouring providers, together with its own direct domestic subscriber base, currently total over 200,000 subscribing homes, located in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

In November 2019, TCC appointed 3SS as prime integrator for the project. TCC decided to build its next-gen service on increasingly popular Android TV OS Operator Tier. This is Google’s game-changing proposition for operators aiming to deliver TV products featuring the array of attractive apps in the Google Play Store, with Google Assistant and Chromecast pre-integrated, all within an advanced operator-branded experience.

Javier Ruete, CEO of TCC said: ”We are really excited to be working with 3SS and SDMC as we know both share our core value of customer-centricity, and our drive to provide real value to TV viewers with a compelling, easy-to-use all-in-one entertainment experience. We’re delighted to be bringing a new, world class TV offering to our subscribers and to the wider marketplace.”

“We are honoured to have been selected by TCC to help enable this pioneering and ambitious TV service, and to be working in close partnership alongside our fellow innovators at 3SS; we’re very proud that our advanced STB is now delivering next-generation entertainment to consumers in Uruguay and beyond,” said Laurence Yan, SVP of worldwide sales, SDMC.

3READY Control Center – Unified experience management and targeted promotions

TCC has also deployed 3READY Control Center, which enables the operator to remotely manage all its STB and multiscreen apps – customized through deployment of 3READY Multiscreen – in a unified way, all from a single location.

Presentation of branding, content and features of all apps are streamlined with 3READY Control Center. Also, tailored promotions can be set up and managed in real-time, with targeting by location, country, brand, etc. This business-enhancing capability is of growing importance to marketing teams and content editors today.

Meanwhile, targeting and A/B testing capabilities help TCC to quickly and clearly understand what new features appeal to viewers; this means product enhancements can happen faster and with greater confidence of viewer acceptance.

Multiple Profiles, Sports Zone and Kids Zone

Among TCC VIVO’s/ZetaTV’s new key features is the ability to have multiple profiles per household, including kids profiles with advanced parental control. Additionally, there is a dedicated Sports Zone and Kids Zone; these include aggregated genre-specific viewing menus and easy selecting of sports- and kids-centric content with all relevant channels grouped in the same location. TCC VIVO and ZetaTV also provide many of today’s advanced service functions including 7-day backwards EPG, mini-EPG, Catchup and Startover.

“Everything we do, every day, we do to support our customers, and to help them to provide their subscribers with the advanced, content-rich and seamless TV experience that viewers today so clearly crave,” said Kai-Christian Borchers, Managing Director at 3SS. “TCC has already demonstrated its commitment to innovation, and to bringing next-gen Android TV to the people of Uruguay, as well as to others in Latin America; we are really energized to be part of this trailblazing project.”

Innovation agency recognition and support

A notable development and significant validation for this ground-breaking project is that it has received backing from Uruguay’s National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII). The agency selected TCC’s project to support because it views TCC’s plans as delivering major benefits to the country’s technical knowledge base while enhancing the local creative and media landscape.

The project was delivered using modern principles of agile development, including SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), introduced to TCC by 3SS. Embracing SAFe accelerates and optimizes system deployments, and product development teams operate with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness. Regular workshops engaging TCC’s teams and other key partners, with concurrent work streams and regular update sessions, combined to enable streamlined innovation, better productivity and effective planning.

With SAFe, all stakeholders in the project, both inside the company and partners, know the status of objectives and exactly where they are in the progress of a granular roadmap of deliverables.

3SS’ track record in major international Android TV deployments is unrivalled, extending as far back as 2014. To date, 12 major operators worldwide have chosen 3SS solutions to enhance their Android-based pay-TV services.