The free television service “Samsung TV Plus” could soon be extended to devices other than those of the Korean brand. An approach that would make sense when Samsung already offers its Tizen OS operating system under license to other manufacturers.
Released seven years ago, Samsung TV Plus has quietly made its way onto TVs and devices (tablets and smartphones, in particular) from the Korean brand. After gradually getting richer, the free streaming TV platform could now be extended to other products, from other brands. Samsung idea? Continue to grow the service as free, ad-supported TV platforms gain appeal behind Pluto TV and Roku Live TV on the other side of the Atlantic (YouTube is also looking to strengthen its positions in this field).
This project in the background would not be surprising: Samsung has already allowed its TV Plus application to dabble in Chromecast in 2021, and the firm has also opened access to it on the web. Note that, in parallel, Samsung has been offering other manufacturers to exploit, under license, its Tyzen OS operating system for their own televisions for several months. So allowing TV Plus to venture further outside of Samsung’s ecosystem would be a logical next step for the service.
Samsung TV Plus: a service that is on the rise
That being said, Samsung would be taking a major step here. In this case, the firm would seek to sign partnerships with other players in the market, and potentially with a big shot like Sony or LG, he believes. FossBytes…which still surprises us a bit, mainly when it comes to LG. The brand has its own free streaming TV service: LG Channels, certainly much more embryonic, but still present in the webOS ecosystem.
However, it is not known what the terms of such deals would be if Samsung managed to negotiate them. Two main avenues: either Samsung would pay its partners to authorize a bunch of its own services, including TV Plus, to be installed on their TVs (it would then be Samsung to grow its user base); or the brand would move towards an economic model based on profit sharing. Nor is it ruled out that Samsung chooses to open TV Plus to the iOS and Android ecosystems to suddenly give it much more visibility.
As a reminder, Samsung TV Plus is now used monthly on no less than 7.4 million branded TVs, and the platform now includes 1,800 TV channels accessible for free. However, the service should soon include a paid part with exclusive programs that would allow it to gain even more importance.
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