ACCESS offers simple route for operators to add OTT TV services

ACCESS Twine™ for TV Operators launched to provide the industry’s simplest route to surface new enhanced OTT TV Services and protect Set-Top Box investments

OBERHAUSEN, Germany – ACCESS Europe GmbH today announces that it has launched ACCESS Twine™ for TV Operators (T4TO).

This new solution, which is deployable from 2H 2023, is designed to:

• Provide TV and Telcos with the simplest route to enhance their customer offerings, combining a technology platform with content services including games, AVOD and FAST video as well as audio services including karaoke and music.
• Reduce CAPEX for new Set-Top Boxes (STBs) investment by updating existing STBs.
• Enable operators to control the UI/UX and data harvesting from their customer base.
• Reduce STB memory requirements by removing the need to download and store applications when they are not in use.
• Enable new connected services via OTA updates for capable STBs through the addition of the Twine Standard Client (TSC).
• Refresh deployed legacy set-top boxes (STB) through the OTA update of STB firmware with the addition of the Twine Micro Client (TMC).
• Providing application and content layers that provide super aggregation of metadata across services.

“TV operators are in a tough spot right now; content costs continue to rise, while cord-cutting is an ever-present danger as Internet-only services expand,” says Masahiro Aono, CEO, ACCESS Europe. “Our new solution, ACCESS Twine for TV Operators (T4TO), enables operators to embrace these connected services across all their devices, and do this at minimum cost by extending the life of their population of set-top boxes. We believe that this is the right solution at the right time for any TV operator with a population of low-powered and old set-top boxes.”

T4TO enables operators and telcos to quickly launch locally relevant entertainment services to the TV, mobile and tablet. ACCESS achieves this by combining a technology platform and content from our partners to provide games, karaoke, AVOD and FAST, streaming radio and podcasts, with more to come. T4TO can work in two ways:

• Integrated with the STB software with UI and game rendering carried out on the box via the Twine Standard Client (TSC).
• Rendered in the cloud and displayed on the Set-Top Box or other device via the Twine Micro Client (TMC), enabling operators to maximise the useful and profitable life of its legacy STB real-estate / investment.

“Operators know they must embrace connected services to stay relevant with their customers, through providing greater engagement than app-only solutions such as smart TVs and dongles,” says Robert Guest, VP Product and Content, ACCESS Europe. “By enabling the quick addition of apps and services to existing STB platforms, combined with metadata aggregation and a highly configurable UX, T4TO keeps operators ‘consumer relevant’ without a huge CAPEX budget.”