Content
Android TV
Android TV is a smart television operating system based on Android and developed by Google for televisions, digital media players, set-top boxes and sound bars
Successor to Google TV, it has a user interface designed around content discovery and voice search, aggregation of content from various applications and multimedia services and integration with other recent Google technologies, such as Assistant, Cast and Knowledge Graph
The platform was first introduced in June 2014, and was first available on the Nexus Player that November
The platform has been adopted as smart TV middleware by companies such as Sony and Sharp, while Android TV products have also been adopted as set-top boxes by several IPTV television providers
History
Android TV was first announced at Google I/O in June 2014, as a successor to the commercially failed Google TV
The Verge characterized it as more in line with other digital media streaming platforms, but taking advantage of Google's Knowledge Graph project; compatibility with Chromecast; a greater emphasis on search; closer ties with the ecosystem Android (including Google Play Store and integration with other families of Android, like Android Wear); and native support for video games, Bluetooth gamepads and the Google Play Games framework
Some attendees received the platform development kit, the ADT-1; The Information reported that the ADT-1 was based on a discarded “Nexus TV” launch device that was being developed internally by Google
Google unveiled the first Android TV device, the Asus-developed Nexus Player, at a hardware event in October 2014
The ADT-2 development kit device went on sale ahead of the release of Android TV 9.0
Android TV 10 was released on December 10, 2019, along with the ADT-3 development kit
Android TV 11 was released for the ADT-3 on September 22, 2020, while rollouts were planned for OEM partners in the following months
Features
The Android TV platform is an adaptation of the operating system Android for set-top boxes and as software built into smart TV hardware
Its home screen uses a vertically scrolling row-based interface, including a “content discovery” area populated by suggested content, followed by “Watch Now” rows that display media content from installed apps. Android TV supports entering voice commands and universal search across multiple services; some devices also support Google Assistant
All Android TV devices are compatible with Google Cast, which allows you to play multimedia content from compatible applications on other devices in an identical way to Chromecast
Android TV is compatible with Play Store software, including multimedia apps and games (although not all Google Play apps are compatible with Android TV)
Some Android TV devices, such as the Nvidia Shield and Razer Forge TV, are also marketed as microconsoles and include a wireless Bluetooth gamepad
Google TV interface
A modified Android TV user interface, branded “Google TV” (no relation to the company's smart TV platform that no longer has the same name), debuted on the streaming device Chromecast with Google TV, which was launched on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the rebranding of the video on demand (VOD) service of Google Play Movies & TV to Google TV on devices Android
The Google TV interface emphasizes content recommendations and discovery of different services and installed apps, compared to the Android TV interface, which focuses more on navigation between individual installed apps
Google TV is compatible with more than 6,500 applications created for Android TV
The Google TV interface replaced the Android TV interface in late 2022, and began being used on set-top boxes, dongles, and smart TVs in 2021
| Service | Operator |
|---|---|
| A&E | A+E Networks |
| ABC | American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. |
| Amazon Prime Video | Amazon.com, Inc |
| AMC | American Movie Classics |
| Apple TV+ | Apple Inc. |
| BET+ | Paramount Global, Tyler Perry Studios |
| Comedy Central | Paramount Media Networks |
| Crackle | Sony Group Corporation, Chicken Soup for the Soul |
| Crunchyroll | Sony Group Corporation |
| DC Universe | DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Digital Networks |
| Discovery+ | Warner Bros. Discovery |
| DisneyNOW | Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD |
| Disney+ | Disney Streaming |
| Fox Now | Fox Corporation |
| FuboTV | FuboTV Inc. |
| Funimation | Funimation Films |
| Globoplay | Grupo Globo |
| Hulu | Disney+, ESPN+ |
| HBO Max | Warner Bros. Discovery |
| History | A&E Networks |
| Kocowa+ | wavve Americas (KBS, MBC, SBS, SK Telecom) |
| MGM+ | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| MTV | Paramount Media Networks |
| NBC | NBCUniversal, RCA Corporation, Radio Corporation of America |
| Paramount+ | Paramount Global |
| Paramount+ with Showtime | Showtime Networks |
| Peacock | NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment |
| Philo | A&E Networks, AMC Networks Streaming,Paramount Streaming, Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment |
| Pluto TV | Paramount Global |
| Sling TV | Sling TV LLC |
| Starz | Starz Inc |
| TBS | Warner Bros. Discovery Networks |
| The CW | CBS Entertainment Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment |
| TNT | Warner Bros. Entertainment |
| Tubi TV | Fox Corporation |
| VH1 | Paramount Media Networks |
| Viki | Rakuten Viki |
| Vix | TelevisaUnivision, Vix |
| YouTube TV | Google LLC |
Devices
Televisions
During Google I/O 2014, Google announced that Sony, Sharp and TP Vision/Philips would launch smart TVs with built-in Android TV in 2015
It was noted that support for handling TV-specific functions such as input switching and tuning were natively built into the platform Android
Sony introduced a range of Bravia smart TVs with Android TV at CES 2015
Sharp launched two TV models on June 10, 2015
Philips announced that 80% of its 2015 TVs will run Android TV, with the first two models going on sale in June 2015
Google announced other TV hardware partners in January 2016, such as Arcelik, Bang & Olufsen, Hisense, TCL Corporation and Vestel
OnePlus has also launched several TVs that run on the Android TV platform; All OnePlus TVs run Android TV 9, except the newly launched OnePlus TV U1S, which runs Android TV 10
OnePlus' sister company Realme has also launched several TVs that run on the Android TV platform
TCL Corporation announced a range of smart TVs running Android 11 (and Google TV) at CES 2021
Other brands such as Mystic, Hisense, Motorola, and Xiaomi have launched their respective lines of televisions with this operating system
TV Box and TV Stick
In addition to televisions, external devices such as TV Boxes and TV Sticks that also have the Android TV operating system have also been launched, including the company NVIDIA, which launched the Nvidia Shield TV in 2015.
Other brands such as Mecool and Youin have launched devices such as the Mecool KM2 (which is certified by Netflix) and the Youin You-Box
Decoders
Several pay TV providers have launched IPTV services using Android TV-based hardware instead of a proprietary set-top box, such as Telekom Malaysia's Unifi Plus Box, LG Uplus's U+ tvG Woofer and U+ tvG 4K UHD, Freebox Mini 4K from the French ISP and BBox Miami from Bouygues Telecom
Dish Network launched an Android TV device known as AirTV Player in 2017, marketed as a companion to its Sling TV service, and which supports an optional adapter to connect an antenna and receive over-the-air television
Verizon Wireless, Tivo, and T-Mobile USA each offer a company-branded Android TV streaming dongle called Verizon Stream, TiVo Stream 4K, and T-Vision Hub, respectively
In 2020, AT&T launched AT&T TV as its new flagship pay television service, which is based on an Android TV decoder and the infrastructure of its OTT service DirecTV Now
Ericsson added support for Android TV to its MediaFirst IPTV platform, which is used as the basis for Canadian services such as Telus Pik TV and SaskTel MaxTV Stream
Vodafone Australia currently sells a TV tuner and media streaming device with Android TV, but as of 2020 it has been discontinued