Customers can keep TiVo though
MONTREAL – Cogeco Connexion will roll out the MediaFirst IPTV platform from MediaKind (previously Ericsson Media Solutions) to its Canadian cable customers starting next year.
The company said Tuesday that the MediaFirst platform will offer customizable video content, wireless receivers, voice activated controls, and access to Android Google Mobile Services “for a complete video offering”. MediaFirst is the same video platform deployed by Bell Fibe, Telus Optik, and SaskTel's MaxTV, and this decision from Cogeco diverges from the path set by Shaw, Rogers and Videotron, who chose Comcast's X1 platform for their next generation TV offering.
It is scheduled to roll out through Cogeco’s cable footprint in Ontario and Quebec by mid-year 2019, and will then become “the standard video experience offered to new customers". However, customers with its existing video services, including TiVo, may opt to continue receive their current services as MediaFirst will coexist with these video platforms, said the company.
Cogeco told Cartt.ca that its U.S. operations ABB will continue offering TiVo as its advanced platform "at the moment."
"TiVo is continuing to improve its product features and we offer them to our customers as they become available", said a spokesperson. "Although we attempt to capture as much synergies as possible between the two countries for our cable operations, we consider elements such as regional customer preferences, competition, cost/benefits of new solutions when making decisions which can be different in the two markets.”
“Trends in TV viewing clearly show that operators must always innovate in order to offer a rich and customized customer experience”, said Cogeco Connexion president Ken Smithard, in the news release. “After careful consideration, we are confident that the MediaFirst IPTV platform is the best vehicle to fulfill our promise to Canadian viewers by offering a cutting-edge technology with personalization features and greater ease of use for the kind of viewing experience our customers want and deserve."
The MediaFirst platform is a media-optimized cloud-based TV platform that provides a converged multiscreen experience including Pay TV in-home, TV Everywhere and OTT services, and embraces all content sources and delivery networks.
"The introduction of an IPTV solution allows for a transition to a more efficient all-Internet protocol video delivery solution providing Cogeco Connexion with access to a broader video equipment ecosystem," added Luc Noiseux, Cogeco Communications’ SVP and chief technology and strategy officer.
