The Sky Glass approach arrives in Australia with Foxtel’s Hubbl Glass
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John Moulding
| 31 October 2023
1 The Sky Glass approach arrives in A ustralia with Foxtels Hubbl Glass
Foxtel in Australia is about to join a small but growing group of Pay TV operators offering their own branded television sets, following the Sky Glass model. The new OS/UX experience will also be available via an external hub device. The brand name will be Hubbl.

Foxtel Group was the first Sky Glass international syndication partner, and the company points out that what was known as 'Project Magneto' has been designed for Australia but benefits from global scale. “Backed by global leaders in entertainment technology – Comcast USA and Sky UK – Hubbl will continuously evolve its entertainment OS with regular software updates, without requiring a new device,” the company explains.

Hubbl brings together paid and free streaming entertainment into a UI featuring universal discovery, with the idea being that consumers will not have to keep navigating apps to find the content they want. “It gives consumers access to a universe of content, whilst unifying their subscriptions. It will take the frustration out of managing app subscriptions,” Foxtel says.

The Hubbl OS/UX experience will be available via Hubbl Glass or a Hubbl device that plugs into the television, with both options providing streaming-only television without the need for satellite or terrestrial coax connections. The television set is described as a world-class TV featuring high-quality, built-in soundbar. So, think Sky Glass and Sky Stream, which is the hardware approach being replicated here.

Foxtel talks of “unrivalled app integration that sets it well ahead of the curve”. This is one of the features of the Sky Glass OS used in the UK, where streaming applications live in a state of heightened readiness so the journey to content is accelerated.

“Hubbl is like nothing on the market; it is TV and streaming made easy,” the Australian Pay TV and streaming provider said when announcing Hubbl. “It brings simplicity and ease back to the world of entertainment. This is going to change the entertainment experience for the better for millions of Australians.”

Patrick Delany, CEO, Hubbl and Foxtel Group, expands on this point. “We all love the explosion of choice that streaming has delivered us over the past few years. But there is no doubt we are all experiencing the same frustrations: having to go in and out of apps, keeping track of show recommendations, remembering what we started but did not finish watching, and who in the family is paying for what. Hubbl solves these frustrations.

“Hubbl is the next quantum leap in entertainment technology and is the solution to a complex Australian streaming landscape caused by the fabulous explosion of choice in streaming services. It has been built with Australian consumers in mind, effortlessly fusing free and paid entertainment and sport from apps, channels and the Internet into one seamless user experience.”

Hubbl will launch in Australia in the coming months. No details on app partners or product features have been provided yet – these are promised soon.

Comment

When Foxtel talks about global scale for this new OS/UX platform, they are not exaggerating. Multichoice in South Africa is another Sky Glass international syndication partner. And Sky Glass is built on the same Global Technology Platform that is also used by U.S. cable company Cox, and Canadian Pay TV operators Shaw, Rogers and Videotron. Comcast and Sky are also using the Global Technology Platform, of course.

With the Sky Glass international syndication programme, as used by Foxtel, integrations can be bespoke and localised, as required. The local Pay TV provider decides on the content and apps that are onboarded to the OS/UX platform. The syndicating partner (e.g., Foxtel, in this case) controls monetisation of the platform and controls the data. The syndicating partner also owns the customer relationship and billing relationship.

So, nobody should confuse this OS/UX syndication model with the technology partnerships offered by global OS providers to television OEMs in the retail Smart TV world. This is something different, made for the Pay TV market. And it is worth emphasising that private-label/branded television sets are only one option a Pay TV operator can take when syndicating the ‘Glass’ OS/UX. This is a new TV platform/experience created for use on multiple hardware endpoints – with the streaming boxes another important choice.