‘Smart’ STV Player launches on Android
STV has used the IBC trade show in Amsterdam as a soft launch for its Video on Demand service STV Player for Android devices.
STV Player displays VOD differently depending on the viewing device
The technology is based on responsive design methodology, which allows the page to respond differently according to the device that users are consuming the content on. “The same site comes down to a phone screen and a tablet completely differently,” explained David Low, Head of Digital Products at STV. “The whole idea was to build a flexible system that could work on almost any device.”
The new service allows Android tablet and mobile devices wireless access to video catch-up for popular STV network programmes such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and The X Factor, as well as the channel’s home-grown productions, for up to 30 days after broadcast.
The service, which is free to use, allows users to search for programmes, access A – Z and category listings and browse recommended, recent and popular STV programmes. It follows an STV News app for Android and a STV News iPhone app from the company, which have proved to be a big success since the launch just over a year ago
“This is part of a wider strategy called STV Anywhere, allowing our audiences to consume our content wherever and whenever they choose,” said Alistair Brown, Chief Technology and Platforms Officer at STV. “We’re soon to be on iPad and iPhone.”
“In addition, we have recently launched the STV Player on PS3, we continue to offer an extensive and up-to-the-minute news service on stv.tv, and our hyper-local network of websites, STV Local, is being rolled out across the whole of Scotland.”
David Low said the end goal was to be able to create everything once and to use STV front and backend to send content to all digital platforms. “YouView is coming down the line next year, so we’ll use the same systems to cope with that,” he said.
STV contributes to the YouView technology working group. “We’re in discussions with how we handle the regionalisation elements with ITV, with applications that can be associated with the YouView environment and with the whole rollout of the service,” said Brown. “We’re also very interested in the whole companion device space, in terms of how audiences interact on smartphones and tablets.”
Access STV Player for Android on m.player.stv.tv.
