New settop box will turn your ordinary idiot box into smart TV

Soon, you might as well forget buying a new smart TV or any streaming devices such as Google Chromecast or Apple TV. DTH and cable operators such as Videocon D2H, TataSky and Airtel among others, are set to launch smart set top boxes (STB) or connected set top boxes that will turn any television set into a smart TV.

“The new set top boxes from our stable, also called Connected Box, have the ability to connect to the internet either via WiFi or through a dongle attached to its USB hub,” a Videocon D2H spokesperson told HT. The STBs will also have social media, music and content streaming apps with games.

“The new Connected Box will eliminate the need for users to buy a new smart TV or a streaming device such as Google Chromecast and Apple TV as the STB will provide both linear programming as well the option to stream on demand video or audio content,” he said. The new boxes will be launched by May for about ₹3,500.

Existing STB users would have the option to upgrade to the new STB by paying ₹1,000 and returning their old STBs.

Videocon D2H said their Connected Box has news and social apps such as NDTV, Facebook, Twitter and is in the process of adding support for Netflix, Voot, hotstar and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix and Videocon D2H signed a deal in the first week of March to let D2H users access movies and other titles using the Connected Box.

Videocon is not the only player looking to come out with such boxes. “We are also working on a new hybrid STB that will enable users to watch TV as well as stream content,” Airtel sources said.

Industry sources said Airtel’s new STB will hit the market soon and is expected to eat into market share of smart TV-makers and streaming devices. Videocon’s launch will also force other players such as DEN networks, Siti Cable to come out with their products soon, they said.

“Reliance Jio is also pushing for its Android-based STB, which will come with Jio apps,” Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research told HT. “The rise in home broadband and free data, along with app-based remote controls, will give rise to the new digited STB penetration.”

According to Counterpoint data, out of the total 9 to 10 million flat panel TVs shipped to India, nearly 5 million units are smart TVs. The smart TV market size in India is around ₹24,000 crore.

However, Faisal Kawoosa, analyst at CyberMedia Research, was sceptical about STBs: “Users don’t like to be bound by the manufacturer with a specific set of apps and we have seen this with smartphones. The new STBs’ sucess may be limited as they will have to rely on pre-installed apps in contrast to access to a smart app store in a smart TV.”

Tata Sky, which was the first DTH that tried to digitise STBs, is also working on a concept called Webapps to further digitise its set-top boxes.

“Tata Sky+ customers are able to use apps while watching TV,” said Harit Nagpal, MD and CEO of Tata Sky. “Tata Sky is providing these customers an additional interface to access information/ gaming from popular apps through their TV apart from conventional handheld devices.”

Smart TV makers seemed unfazed about the new product. “Customers who need to buy a smart TV, they go with the inbuilt smart TV from the manufacturer. In my opinion , these (STBs) are good to increase the demand of smart TVs and people tend to use these kind of devices to their existing non smart TVs,” said Neeraj Bahl, head of consumer electronic business of Panasonic India.

VU Technologies declined to comment on the matter and Google, Samsung and LG had not responded to HT’s query at the time of going to press.