LAS VEGAS – At the Samsung keynote here Thursday, the company announced several partnerships that will bring content from companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Hulu, and Adobe to Samsung Internet-connected devices.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced that their cable content – including live TV – will be available on the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Samsung Smart TVs by year's end. Hulu also said that the Hulu Plus subscription service will soon be available on Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S, while Adobe made an appearance to announce that Samsung Smart TVs will support Flash.
TWC and Comcast subscribers will be able to use the Galaxy Tab as a remote – searching TV content, changing channels, and programming the DVR. But they will also be able to watch live TV on the tablet throughout the home. Similarly, owners of Samsung Smart TVs can access TWC and Comcast content without the need for a set-top box.
"Together, TWC and Samsung will give our customers all the channels they enjoy now as well as full navigation experience on Samsung smart TVs, without need for set-top box, and we'll do it this year," said TWC chief Glenn Britt.
"We have the technology framework in place to deliver new features to Comcast customers faster than ever, including on connected TVs, tablets and multiple devices, which is core to our strategy and a key facet of the future of television," said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
Earlier this week, Comcast announced plans to bring the live TV functionality to the iPad and said it would also come to Android-powered devices, but did not specify which ones at the time.
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, meanwhile, also made a brief appearance, during which he announced that Hulu Plus will be available on Android-powered phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S.
In a later blog post, Hulu said it is working on an Android 2.2 app, which will be available in the coming months. "We'll announce further details as soon as we have an official launch date and complete list of Hulu Plus-enabled Android phones," Hulu said.
To make sure users can access as much content as possible on these Internet-connected devices, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was on hand to announce that Samsung TVs will support Flash.
"Our customers want a more complete Web -browsing experience on" Smart TVs," said Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung's Visual Display Business. With Flash, "consumers can access millions of sites with rich videos. It is a must-have for anyone bringing Web-based content to the living room screen."
Yoon also touched on 3D technology. Samsung, he said, will soon offer devices that let user create their own 3D content. In 2011, Samsung will also launch the world's first 3D audio technology for the home theater system. Yoon played a fireworks display demo that did indeed sound much like the real thing.
DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg also dropped in to champion the Samsung technology. "Samsung is an essential part of creative process," he said. "We use Samsung TVs to make all of our films."
Those films "contain some of the most complex imagery … so we need to best displays available to capture every little nuance," Katzenberg said.
Finally, Samsung championed its environmental efforts. By 2020, Yoon said, Samsung will have invested $23 billion in green initiatives.