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Samsung is making it a little easier to find something to watch on its giant televisions.
The company announced today that it's integrating Hulu Plus listings into its WatchOn smart TV software. The WatchOn app, which runs on Samsung televisions, tablets and smartphones, serves as a smart TV guide of sorts by recommending shows that are playing on TV right now that you might like. Today's update adds Hulu Plus listings to the mix of shows, movies, and on-demand content that already appear in WatchOn. Hulu Plus has been available as an app on Samsung's Smart TVs for a while, but this update adds listings for the shows into WatchOn.
Of course, there's a catch -- you have to be a Hulu Plus subscriber to access any of the shows that pop up as recommendations or search results in WatchOn. And the WatchOn software only runs on select Samsung devices, so to experience the full impact of the update, you have to have a Samsung TV or Blu-ray player from 2012 or 2013 connected to the same home network as a current-generation Samsung smartphone or tablet.
Still, that's not a small audience, and of all the television manufacturers trying to crack the smart-TV nut -- a difficult task, considering the ease and popularity of add-on boxes like the Roku and Apple TV -- Samsung is arguably doing the best job.
By and large, smart TVs have horrible user interfaces. Actually, painful is more correct description, since navigating a "smart TV" interface usually ends with you throwing the remote in frustration and hurting a loved one. It's smart TV collateral damage.
But Samsung's interface is the least painful of all the majors, and WatchOn is a big reason for that. It not only merges listings for both live TV and streaming services, but it dumps it all into a visually appealing interface that makes it easy to search, browse, and quickly find something you want to watch.
More VOD and streaming services beyond Hulu Plus are expected to land on WatchOn in the coming weeks, Samsung told me in a private briefing.
It is a gamble to get people to forgo the $90 or $100 for a set-top box, which offers more flexibility and more viewing options than the software that ships on most TVs. Samsung's approach is to get viewers to use their smartphones and tablets to control many of the aspects of their viewing experience on a Samsung Smart TV or Blu-ray player. The WatchOn app is preloaded on the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Tab 3. With the app, viewers can change channels, discover shows and cue up live TV shows using their mobile devices. They can also stream any of that content directly from the TV to their smaller screen.
While we're fans of remotes with physical buttons, these integrated software experiences require the use of a tablet or smartphone. So even the best second-screen setups won't be perfect.
There's a twist to how different mobile devices interact with WatchOn, as well: Each mobile phone running WatchOn is tied to an account unique to the smartphone owner. When you enter the same network as the TV, your recommendations are presented on the TV's screen. So if you're into French New Wave films and your roommate loves romantic comedies, each of you will be presented with films and shows that match your particular interests, rather than a hodgepodge of recommendations designed to appeal to the both of you. If you pick up a tablet, on the other hand, you'll see aggregated recommendations for the entire household. Samsung says it treats tablets differently because they are far more likely to be used as shared devices within a household, and not personal devices like smartphones.
