Top European TV supplier Vestel has become the first OEM for Xperi’s new TiVo-branded TVOS. In addition to distributing TVs under its own imprimatur, the Turkish firm manufactures sets for Hitachi, JVC, Toshiba and Panasonic. Vestel will begin selling branded TVs with TiVo as the primary software OS in mid-2023, Xperi said. Smart set manufacturers have increasingly sought a portal approach that helps customers navigate among a dizzying array of individual content platforms while sidestepping the additional costs associated with interfaces from the likes of Amazon Fire, Roku, Google TV or Android TV.

Relationships with TVOS giants “often consume the brand identity of the manufacturer’s TV sets, an important asset in which the TV often serves as a low-margin, or even loss-leader device, sold primarily to gain a customer relationship foothold,” writes Next TV.

Such relationships are valuable not just for data collection and advertising opportunities, but to pave the way for future appliance sales (Vestel sells refrigerators, washer/dryers and more) as well as other consumer electronics products. “That calculus becomes more difficult when the consumer believes they have a ‘Roku TV’ and has no idea who the actual manufacturer is,” Next TV says.

Last year, Vestel unveiled a partnership with Norway-based video software maker Vewd to make pay TV-ready sets that don’t require set-top boxes, the idea being to compete with Comcast’s Sky Glass in Europe. In July, Xperi purchased Vewd for $109 million.

“We’re in a unique position to really put a product in the marketplace that meets [OEM] customer requirements, but is also best-in-class in terms of user experience,” Xperi products chief Geir Skaaden told Next TV.

Xperi research indicates 40 percent of TV manufacturers want a flexible solution that bypasses the “walled gardens” of the big TVOS brands. “That’s why we say our TVs are powered by TiVo, they’re not TiVo-powered TVs,” Skaaden said in his interview with Next TV.

The TiVo OS is built on Linux and offers customizability designed to increase control for OEMs. Using the TiVo brand it acquired in a $3 billion merger announced in December 2019, Xperi wants to offer a solution for CE manufacturers that do not have the resources to create their own TVOS, something brand giants like Samsung and LG do.

“Xperi describes TiVo OS as a ‘first-of-its-kind neutral platform,’” writes TV Technology, describing a user interface that helps consumers cut through the clutter of streaming and linear content options with simplified, universal discovery.