Altice France selects CommScope for SFR Box 8 Smart Media Device

Altice France Taps into CommScope Technology to Launch New Smart Media Device

HICKORY, N.C. — ARRIS (now part of CommScope via acquisition) today announced that Altice France is collaborating with CommScope to bring a personalised connected home experience to its SFR subscribers. Altice’s SFR Box 8 Smart Media Device represents the next phase of customer experience engagement as it aggregates services that consumers love. ARRIS and Altice France jointly engaged on the design of the platform, which is the newest offering from ARRIS’s category of Smart Media Device products.

The Smart Media Device provides multiple functionalities to offer a connected home experience to subscribers. Far-field voice command technology, compatible with both Amazon Alexa® and SFR’s voice control application, delivers smart assistant services via the subscriber’s television screen. A software solution developed by Wiztivi, a leading company for multiscreen user interfaces (UI), means that users can control and interact with the television through voice commands – with no need for a physical television remote control.

The Smart Media Device also features a high-quality connected speaker to deliver an enhanced audio experience that operates across entertainment, smart assistant and control scenarios. Subscribers can also access IPTV and OTT services through the Smart Media Device.

“Our SFR Box 8 will set a new standard for consumer entertainment and connected experiences in the home,” said Grégory Rabuel, Executive President for General Public and Companies at SFR. “Through our combined partnership in connected home technologies, the Smart Media Device will bring voice and media together for an unprecedented user experience.”

“The industry is experiencing the next evolution of the set-top with the Smart Media Device,” said Joe Chow, senior vice president and segment leader, Customer Premises Equipment, CommScope. “Altice France is able to deliver a range of connected home applications to its subscribers through a single device. Now more than ever, the home is a space for easy access to immersive entertainment and assistive technologies.”

SFR Box 8 is part of the emerging category of Smart Media Devices being manufactured by CommScope. Smart Media Devices unify connected home advancements in a single platform, presenting service providers with a means to offer personalized and aggregated services within the home. CommScope will provide demonstrations of this technology at IBC 2019 in Amsterdam (September 13-17 in Hall 1—B19), as it showcases the future of the connected home.