Las Vegas — Today, Yahoo has announced several new partnerships involved with its Connected TV, a wide release of the Widget Developer Kit, and other device manufacturers and content providers as the web company attempts to deliver Internet services to the coming generation of network-connected TVs, on such devices as home media boxes, Blu-ray players, and cable and IPTV set top boxes.
“Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV, and asking for Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience,” said Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo! Connected TV.
Web giant Yahoo has made several partnerships aimed at jumping from the computer to the TV screen.
Yahoo said it has made an alliance with chip makers MIPS and Sigma designs to develop reference chips running Yahoo widgets, which manufactures can use to build new Yahoo Connect TV devices.
Yahoo explained that the online applications known as “widgets” allows internet-connected TVs to access net video of all kinds after just one or two clicks on the remote by the viewer, would now be embedded in more models and include video on demand, social networks, games and online shopping.
Yahoo widgets appear as small piece in a “dock” at the lower end of your TV screen. You can also open a widget directory in a panel at the left of your screen to find what you want.
One year after revealing partnerships with Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony and Vizio, Yahoo took advantage of the annual Consumer Electronics Show here to announce tie-ups with China’s Hisense, ViewSonic, MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs, and two TV processor companies are now partners, Yahoo said Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Several companies are building the Yahoo software into their products:
- Vizio’s XVT Connected HDTVs, set to go on sale this quarter.
- ViewSonic’s VMP80 media player, a $159 device set to ship this quarter.
- Hisense International’s Internet-Connected TV line, which will ship in the United States and Europe.
- Yahoo has done a great job of partnering with all kinds of web video providers. Yahoo is now adding up net video content from 26 different services including Netflix, VUDU, Amazon VOD, CinemaNow/Blockbuster, Showtime and CBS.
- Yahoo also announced the addition of the video catalogs of aggregators FrameChannel, Brightcove, Zinc, and 1Cast.
Yahoo! said the VMP80 media player will allow HDTV owners to view movies, TV shows, Web videos, and photos and go shopping and play games with TV widgets.
“Consumers can enjoy the greatest Internet content while simultaneously viewing their favorite programming,” said ViewSonic Americas vice president Jeff Volpe.
“Leveraging this reference implementation, MIPS licensees will be able to quickly develop devices incorporating Yahoo TV Widgets,” Yahoo said.
Widget partners include USA Today, eBay, Twitter, Facebook, CNBC, NBC, Napster, RadioTime, Dailymotion, The Weather Channel, and Betfair.
Considering that Internet-connected TV catches on — which is not a sure thing in the near future — Yahoo will be very well-positioned in this market.