ZATTOO and Skyworth/STRONG announce STB partnership

ZATTOO and Skyworth/STRONG announce strategic partnership for set-top boxes

ZURICH — ZATTOO has expanded its portfolio of supported devices with a new 4K Android TV set-top box by entering into a strategic partnership with Skyworth Digital, the world’s largest manufacturer of set-top boxes, and its German subsidiary, STRONG DIGITAL GmbH. ZATTOO’s B2B customers can now rely on a fully integrated service offering as part of the Android TV Operator Tier program. It includes ZATTOO’s TV-as-a-Service and Skyworth/STRONG’s set-top box offering. As a Skyworth subsidiary, STRONG will deliver the 4K Android TV Box, branding and after sales device service across Europe.

The Custom Launcher for Android TV provided by ZATTOO is an extension of the stand-alone Android TV application. Thanks to deeply integrated functions such as access to the Google Play Store, end customers get more than just a TV application. They can choose from thousands of apps from the Google Play Store to install and use on the set-top box. For the network operator, it is also possible to offer its customers a selection of apps as soon as the box is set up.

For ZATTOO’s B2B customers, the expanded offering has several advantages. These include fast market launch with a powerful TV service, many attractive content discovery features as well as Skyworth/STRONG’s 4K set-top box.

By choosing the ZATTOO White Label IPTV platform with this newly announced 4K Android TV set-top box, network operators don’t need to set up their own TV platform, which can often be time consuming and expensive, and they also don’t need to deal with integrating suitable hardware to provide their end customer a set-top box based service.

ZATTOO and Skyworth/STRONG are working together on a joint product development approach to ensure a long term sustainable lifecycle for network operators consisting of ZATTOO’s White Label IPTV platform, custom launcher application and Skyworth/STRONG’s 4K set-top boxes. Martin Kogler, Managing Director STRONG Digital GmbH: “We are pleased to introduce into the market a Strong 4K set-top box solution on Android TV with ZATTOO. We are bringing the full power of Skyworth to the partnership to develop high-quality 4K set-top box products to incorporate the potential of future technologies into our roadmap early on. ZATTOO’s B2B customers can rely on the extensive in-country logistic, local support, customization and consultative capabilities of STRONG”.

Nicolas Westermann, Head of B2B Product at ZATTOO adds: “We are very pleased to have entered a partnership with Skyworth/STRONG as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of 4K set-top boxes. ZATTOO is again reasserting its claim as an innovation leader, especially in the Android TV Operator Tier program. We are already one of the leading TV platforms for network operators in Europe and will continue to advance our pioneering role by providing outstanding services to our customers. The new integrated offering of TV-as-a-Service, high performance 4K hardware and Android TV is impressive proof of this.”

In view of developments in the market, this is a logical step by ZATTOO. Across the world, network operators are increasingly relying on Android TV as an alternative to Linux-based hardware. In 2019, ZATTOO already expanded its successful White Label IPTV platform offering to include Android TV for Operators, and with 1&1, one of the leading DSL and mobile operators in Germany, announced the first B2B customer to use the Android TV Custom Launcher from ZATTOO.