Samsung Out Smart TV Plans: Time Warner & Comcast Apps; DirecTV Streaming & Adobe AIR

Samsung is making moves to kill off the cable STB, and feathering its Galaxy Tab media line-up at the same time. The Korean company has announced partnerships with DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Comcast that will see digital content services from the three companies feature on upcoming Samsung smart TV sets. However, it will also see Time Warner's cable service and Comcast's Xfinity available as an app on the Galaxy Tab.

The DirecTV deal will see Samsung integrate RVU chips into its LED D6000, LED D6400 and LED 6420 TV models, allowing each HDTV to receive streamed content from a single DirecTV server. They'll go on sale in March 2011, offering DVR services, live pause on all screens in the home, 200hrs of shared storage, PiP and the ability to record up to five shows simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Samsung has also announced a deal to put Adobe AIR 2.5 on its smart TVs and Blu-ray players, together with adding Flash Player 10.1 support to the browser on its sets. Apps written in AIR will be cross-platform compatible with Samsung HDTVs just as they are on PCs, Macs and other platforms today.

Press Release:

Samsung and DIRECTV Partner to Deliver World's First RVU-Compatible Production Television

DIRECTV and Samsung Showcase Multi-room DVR Technology On Samsung Smart TVs

2011 International CES

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today at the International Consumer Electronics Show, DIRECTV and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced they have partnered to present the world's first RVU-compatible production televisions, which will provide more than 19.1 million DIRECTV subscribers with the ability to watch live broadcast and stored content from their DVR on Samsung smart TVs, without the need for additional set-top boxes. As founding members of the RVU Alliance, Samsung and DIRECTV are committed to providing a more seamless entertainment experience for consumers across multiple rooms and a variety of screens, through the use of standardized Remote User Interface (RUI) technology.

"Making DIRECTV features and content available to Samsung's televisions through the RVU server allows consumers to enjoy our innovative service without the need for additional set-top boxes. We are pleased to see our successful partnership with Samsung expand to include support for RVU in their 2011 model range."

The RVU protocol will be supported on Samsung's LED D6000, LED D6400 and LED 6420 TV products that reflect the company's commitment to delivering consumers high-quality, visually enhanced and connected entertainment experiences in their home. A RUI technology based on industry standards such as DLNA and UPnP, RVU allows a set-top box server to provide a multi-room, complete viewing experience that includes DVR services, without the need for additional set-top boxes in homes that have more than one connected TV.

"We are very happy to be working with an esteemed satellite provider like DIRECTV and provide the world first RVU service to consumers with Samsung TV," said Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung's Visual Display Business. "Products developed on RVU standards, one of the major RUI standards, will help accelerate the development of features and applications that can provide our customers with a truly customizable, immersive entertainment experience that can be enjoyed from the comfort of the home."

"The CES demonstration of the first RVU compliant television is exciting news for the industry and consumers who want a consistent, superior user experience throughout the home," said Romulo Pontual, CTO of DIRECTV. "Making DIRECTV features and content available to Samsung's televisions through the RVU server allows consumers to enjoy our innovative service without the need for additional set-top boxes. We are pleased to see our successful partnership with Samsung expand to include support for RVU in their 2011 model range."

Capable of supporting multiple connected televisions, DIRECTV's RVU server enables the UI and features to be displayed directly on those connected TVs. Under this partnership, Samsung will embed support for RVU in their smart TVs and provide its customers with the full DIRECTV experience, including DVR services, live pause abilities on all screens in the home, 200 hours worth of shared storage, picture-in-picture capabilities and the power to record up to five shows at once. Samsung's RVU-compatible TVs will be available in March 2011.

More information on Samsung's Smart TV strategy and Samsung's new partnerships were announced during Mr. Boo-Keun Yoon's keynote address, which can now be viewed at www.samsungces2011.com.

Press Release:

Samsung and Time Warner Cable Announce Collaboration for Smart TV Service and Multi-Room Solutions

Time Warner Cable App to be Available to the Company's Subscribers on Samsung Smart TV and Samsung Galaxy Tab

2011 International CES

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Time Warner Cable shared the stage today at the International Consumer Electronics Show to announce a collaboration that will allow Time Warner Cable customers to access their cable subscriptions on the Samsung Smart TV and Samsung Galaxy Tab in their homes. Time Warner Cable Chairman and CEO Glenn Britt joined Samsung Visual Display President Boo-Keun Yoon on stage during Mr. Yoon's keynote speech, where the two companies jointly announced the collaboration and demonstrated the services.

"The era of smart TV is here, and innovative partners like Time Warner Cable, that can utilize this ground-breaking technology to deliver new entertainment solutions to their consumers, will be the first to succeed."

Available as an app within Samsung's application storefront, the Time Warner Cable service ultimately will give Time Warner Cable's subscribers access to all of their cable channels directly on Samsung smart TVs and Galaxy Tab in the home. All of the content can be consumed through Samsung's award-winning LED, LCD and Plasma smart TV line-up, which delivers a high-quality, visual enhanced and connected entertainment experience to the home.

In addition to watching live TV on the Smart TV and Tab, Mr. Britt demonstrated the capability for Time Warner Cable customers to access recorded content from a DVR elsewhere in the home directly on the Samsung Smart TV, without the need for a connected set-top box. This creates a multi-room viewing experience that doesn't require multiple set-top boxes in homes that have more than one connected TV.

"We are very excited to announce Time Warner Cable as our newest partner in delivering new smart TV experiences," said Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung' Visual Display Business. "The era of smart TV is here, and innovative partners like Time Warner Cable, that can utilize this ground-breaking technology to deliver new entertainment solutions to their consumers, will be the first to succeed."

"We're excited to bring together Time Warner Cable's high-value content and high-quality delivery with Samsung's innovative products," said Mr. Britt. "Time Warner Cable is committed to making it easier for our customers to watch what they want, when they want, on multiple devices. We're giving customers more control than ever in ways that are simple and easy for them. Samsung's leading technology and large base of consumers make the company the perfect partner as we deliver services that will change the way people watch TV."

The Time Warner Cable applications will be demonstrated at the Samsung booth in the Central Hall at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Jan. 6-9, 2011.

Time Warner Cable anticipates beginning to offer the apps commercially on Samsung devices later this year.

Press Release:

Samsung and Comcast Partner to Transform TV Viewing on Smart Televisions and Tablets

New Comcast Xfinity TV Experience to Launch on Samsung Smart TVs and Tablets This Year

2011 International CES

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today at the International Consumer Electronics (CES) Show, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) jointly announced the companies' partnership to continue to revolutionize the way consumers access content and watch TV. For the first time on a connected TV, the new Xfinity TV service will offer a rich, Web-like interface, enabling simpler navigation and the ability to seamlessly search across linear TV, DVR recordings, and video on demand among tens of thousands of content choices. A sleek graphics-rich display will guide the viewer to their favorite programming.

"As we begin this exciting new decade, Samsung is also launching a new era of TV technologies that will delight and amaze consumers unlike ever before"

The partnership also will deliver a customized and integrated multi-platform viewing experience on Samsung smart TVs and the Android™-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab. On the tablet, the Xfinity TV experience is a virtual television guide and a mobile video player all in one. Xfinity TV digital customers will be able to browse, discover and sort video content, change the channel on a Samsung smart TV in real time, and program DVRs. In addition, they can watch streaming TV programming and movies directly on the tablet, and access that content across multiple devices. The service's roadmap includes the ability to begin watching a favorite movie on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, then pause the movie and resume watching it on a Samsung smart TV from the exact moment it was paused, and vice versa.

The Xfinity TV service was unveiled today at the International Consumer Electronics Show by Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts during a keynote speech by Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung's Visual Display Business, and will also be demonstrated at the Samsung booth in the Central Hall.

"As we begin this exciting new decade, Samsung is also launching a new era of TV technologies that will delight and amaze consumers unlike ever before," said Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung's Visual Display Business. "To partner with the renowned Comcast brand enables us to deliver on our promise of giving consumers greater variety, easy access and control of the content they discover and deliver a more immersive and entertaining experience to Comcast customers."

Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, said, "Our partnership with an industry leader like Samsung is another important step in Comcast's plan to totally reinvent how consumers watch television wherever and whenever they want. We have the technology framework in place to deliver new features to Comcast customers faster than ever, including on connected TVs, tablets and multiple devices, which is core to our strategy and a key facet of the future of television."

The Xfinity TV experience will be distributed later this year on the Samsung smart TVs and on the application store for the Galaxy products interacting through the Comcast set-top box, giving consumers yet another access point for discovering and connecting to Comcast Xfinity TV services. Content can be watched through Samsung's award-winning LED, LCD and PDP TV products that reflect the company's commitment to delivering consumers high-quality, visually enhanced and connected entertainment experiences in their home.

More information on Samsung's smart TV strategy and Samsung's partnership with Comcast were shared during Mr. Boo-Keun Yoon's keynote address, which can now be viewed at www.samsungces2011.com.

Press Release:

Samsung and Adobe Bring Adobe AIR to Smart TVs

Samsung Becomes First to Integrate Adobe AIR 2.5 into Televisions and Blu-ray Players; Announces Plans to Bring Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to Smart TVs

2011 International CES

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Adobe announced that Samsung's Smart TV platform will be the first to integrate support for Adobe® AIR® 2.5 for TV, making it easy for developers to build, distribute and monetize standalone applications through Samsung's Smart TV applications store, Samsung Apps. The integration of AIR for TV with Samsung's Smart TV platform will create new opportunities for a growing community of more than three million Adobe Flash® Platform developers who can use Adobe Creative Suite 5 to author content for AIR for TV. All of Samsung's 2011 Smart TVs and Smart Blu-ray players will include support for Adobe AIR for TV.

"Adobe is a key partner for Samsung and we are thrilled to be the first TV manufacturer to support Adobe AIR across the Samsung Smart TV platform"

Samsung also announced plans to bring Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to its Smart TV browser, extending the company's current support for Flash Player 10.1 on Samsung smartphones and tablets. With the addition of Flash Player 10.1, users will enjoy a more complete web browsing experience on the TV, with access to millions of websites with rich videos, games and other multimedia content.

"Adobe is a key partner for Samsung and we are thrilled to be the first TV manufacturer to support Adobe AIR across the Samsung Smart TV platform," said Boo-Keun Yoon, President of Samsung's Visual Display Business. "Together, Samsung and Adobe are transforming the ways in which consumers interact with devices and content, providing rich, interactive applications built with industry-leading, cross platform tools."

"Content publishers want to extend their reach from smartphones to the largest screen in the home – all without sacrificing the unique context and experience of each screen," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe. "Samsung is the first device manufacturer to embrace Adobe AIR for TV, and together we will enable developers to extend media applications, social games and other forms of rich content to televisions and a wide range of Samsung devices."

With Samsung's Smart TV platform and Adobe AIR for TV, developers are able to leverage existing code to create and deliver standalone applications across devices and platforms. The Samsung Smart TV platform was built with the developer in mind, enabling content creators to develop applications on an open platform, using common web standards like Javascript and XML and now support for Adobe AIR. The platform uses a single Software Developer Kit (SDK) for Apps that runs across HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Blu-ray Home Theater systems so developers can write once and deploy apps across several platforms. This gives developers the opportunity for more versatile monetization and enables a consistent and intuitive experience for consumers.

More information about Samsung's Smart TV strategy and Samsung's new partnerships was announced during Mr. Boo-Keun Yoon's keynote address, which can now be viewed at www.samsungces2011.com. For more information about Adobe AIR for TV visit http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/flash_platform_tv.html