The news: DirecTV, AT&T, Comcast and other pay TV distributors began experimenting with social TV applications, looking at how to take advantage of the millions of iPhones, Android phones and tablets that are in the homes of cable and satellite subscribers. Distributors see social TV apps as a way to distribute interactive content through mobile devices, and to help subscribers navigate cable programming. Many social TV apps rely on ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) technology that synchronizes interactive programming and advertising with video that a viewer is watching on TV.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts helped put the potential of social TV on the radar screen for other cable executives when he demonstrated at The Cable Show convention in May how cable subscribers may be able to discover programming through the recommendations of Facebook friends. Comcast is running tests of several advanced applications on its system in Augusta, Ga., including a program guide that integrates programming recommended by friends on Facebook and other social TV networks.
But rival DirecTV was the first pay TV provider to integrate its digital video product with a social TV application, cutting a deal with social TV startup Miso in September. Miso can deliver interactive content to DirecTV viewers during programs such as Showtime's hit Dexter series, and it can also deliver interactive advertising and program recommendations.
AT&T has made the biggest push to integrate social TV recommendations into its IPTV-based U-verse TV platform, announcing deals with Miso and social TV firms BuddyTV Guide, TV Foundry and WayIn in October.
Why it's significant: With most providers offering subscribers thousands of hours of live video and video-on-demand content, integrating program recommendations from social TV networks into cable and satellite navigation platforms could help pay TV subscribers more easily find the content that they are most interested in. Social TV could also help TV programmers, distributors and technology providers generate revenue by selling advertising that can be delivered to viewers using mobile devices while watching TV.
