Telstra, Samsung launch tied integrated IPTV devices

When radio was the new, disruptive technology, broadcasters in Australia had a great idea: sell radios that were tied to one station. That way, the sale of the devices would fund the operation of the station.

The “walled garden” approach to radio lasted a little over a year, destroyed by hobbyists that built their own, tunable radios or hacked the “sealed sets” to receive more than one station.

The reason for this historical factoid is yesterday’s announcement by Telstra that it will integrate BigPond TV into Samsung’s range of IP televisions, Blu-ray players and home theatre systems.

This integration gives customers BigPond TV channels streamed to their Samsung devices. Channels include news, sport (including AFL, otherwise known as Aussie Rules; rugby league, V8 Supercars, sports news, horse racing and a music channel.

Widevine’s adaptive streaming technology will be used in the service, presumably alongside the Google takeover target’s DRM technology also distributed by Samsung.

While accessible to Samsung TV owners who aren’t BigPond customers, those signed onto other ISPs will load up their data caps if they download BigPond TV content. ®