Those old enough, will have seen the TV go from a huge rectangle box with ‘rabbit ears’, to better antennas with a colored picture, and the picture grew from 9-inches to 36-inches. Then came along flat screen TVs that were lightweight, hooked up to a cable or satellite, with larger displays, that were very expensive. However, prices have come down, screens are getting bigger, and TVs are getting ‘smarter’ with built in services such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora, Facebook, and more.
Few companies have done more in the advancement of TVs than Samsung. They are continually improving their design and adding features. Next year at CES 2017, in Las Vegas, Samsung will introduce three new Smart TV services – ‘Sports,’ ‘Music’ and ‘TV Plus’ – that the customer will be able to personalize through their Smart TV and its Smart Hub feature. Won Jin Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics said that Samsung stays in touch with what the consumer wants and needs when it comes to electronics and that the three new services with customizable options are design to satisfy and anticipate those customer’s needs.
The ‘Sports” service will prevent sports lovers from having to surf through dozens of channels to find the game they want to watch. One navigation page will allow you to see what games are playing along with all of the scores – then you can jump right into the game you want to see. Samsung will continue to expand the sports area as agreements with NBC Sports, UFC and more are signed. The ‘Music’ service will offer a preview section in the Smart Hub to help introduce users to new music. Not only that, but you will be able to search and identify songs directly from shows that you are watching on TV. It will save you from pulling out the old SoundHound app to listen while you are watching television. Samsung is hooked up with eight music sources including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Napster, Deezer, Sirius XM, Vevo, Melon, and Bugs. Samsung will make this service available in the US, UK, Spain, South Korea, Italy, France, and Germany. Samsung’s ‘TV Plus’ will allow the user to watch marathon sessions via a TV Plus channel rather than waiting for their cable service to offer it. It is all part of a new Smart Electronic Program Guide (EPG). Samsung started this service in South East Asia, and it is already available in the US. Samsung estimates it will be available in Europe in April 2017.