As PayTV services embrace Over-The-Top (OTT) delivery for their premium content, they need to enable access from as many devices as possible, and from as many places as possible. Utilising WebKit, an open source web browser engine with high standards support, has proved an efficient solution to this issue. Combined with the utilisation of HTML5 and Responsive Design, the browser has become integral in enabling consumer multiscreen experiences, and will continue as the industry moves forward. Google’s development of the Chromium Blink browser has led to it speeding up development of some new features to provide a viable alternative on higher performance platforms, including those that support Android as the base operating system.
At IBC, ACCESS launched the newest member of the NetFront™ Browser family – NetFront™ Browser BE. Based on the Chromium Blink engine, it is a natural extension to the solutions already offered by ACCESS, enabling our customers to choose a WebKit or Chromium Blink based browser for high levels of HTML5 standards compliance. This combined with our NetFront Browser 4 “microbrowser” aimed at offering a HTML-based UX for resource-constrained platforms enables us, and more importantly our customers, to have all bases covered.
Adobe’s recent Video Benchmark Report, which analyses online TV trends based on aggregated and anonymous data from over 1,300 media and entertainment sites, has provided conclusive proof of the importance of TV Everywhere. It found that the number of TV Everywhere streams watched per visitor each month increased 133 percent year-on-year, which is potentially great news for the video industry. Given that HTML is the technology of choice for presentation of the online video service UX, device manufacturers must offer support for it as standard. This has placed a focus on ensuring web browsers embedded in consumer devices can cope with these interfaces and enable access to the large volumes of TV Everywhere streams. By supporting both WebKit and Blink, ACCESS is perfectly placed to help operators and device manufacturers deliver true TV Everywhere to the widest range of devices with the best standards compliance.
By extending the NetFront Browser family, ACCESS is uniquely placed in the worldwide TV-centric browser market. By extending our solutions to offer support for worldwide interactive TV standards, such as BML, Ginga, HbbTV and Hybridcast, we can continue to provide best-in class browsers for all markets spanning everything from legacy, small footprint platforms to high-end environments. Operators and CE device manufacturers specifying ACCESS broadcast-centric browsers can be confident that they and their end consumers will be able to continue to enjoy multiscreen experiences on as wide a selection of devices as possible.
