Altech has added Warner Bros to the content bouquet offered on the Node video-on-demand and home automation set-top box in a move it says “substantially extends its content library of movie and television entertainment”.
Despite “lower than expected take-up” of the Node, parent group Altron last month said it remains committed to the product is exploring opportunities to improve its market share.
“It hasn’t met our expectations,” Altron CEO Robbie Venter said at the presentation of the group’s 2015 results in Johannesburg in May. Retail take-up has been disappointing, he said.
Altron will be hoping that Warner Bros will help raise interest among consumers for the product. The Altech Node now has content from studios such as Disney, Fox, Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, Starz and Miramax, all provided through Vubiquity, a global provider of premium content services.
“Warner Bros has been consistently ranked among the top six film studios in the world and have brought us classic titles such as The Dark Knight, the Harry Potter series, Inception and Gravity,” said Altech Node MD Marius Marais in a statement.
The Altech Node has also become the first partner in Africa for YouTube’s Leanback technology, Marais said.
The Leanback application allows viewers to use their television to search for videos, queue video requests and make playlists. Videos tailored to their interest play in full screen and high definition, continuously. There is no need to click, search or browse, and watching YouTube on the Altech Node becomes as easy as watching regular television.
At Altron’s results, the group said it was well advanced in exploring “alternative opportunities and routes to market” for the Node, which was launched in September 2014. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
