YouTube TV and the Better Remote Control
A brief history of remote controls
Since the dawn of time (or maybe just the 50’s) viewers have used remote controls to change the channel and volume, set DVR recordings, or control smart apps on their TVs. Of course, remotes have evolved since the 50s. The first wireless remote control was patented in 1955, Sony released the monstrosity below in 2010, and Comcast released its first voice-controlled remote in 2015.
But since the first one lost its wire, remotes have struggled with battery life and have found themselves lost between couch cushions. With today’s tech, why do we still use these things? Why can’t we just gesture to our TVs or have them read our minds?
The obvious solution since the late 2000s was to use mobile phones — everyone was already carrying around networked devices with better microphones and touch interfaces than any remote on the market. So smart TV providers began copying their existing remote control interfaces into “smart” mobile apps.
But I (like many others) haven’t felt compelled to use these. The friction of unlocking my phone and opening an app outweighs the occasional pain of replacing a battery. Further, they don’t even provide a better interface than my existing remote!
Samsung’s remote is bare-boned because they only control the TV’s home screen. 99% of their remote’s use is as a simple input device to control apps or cable. Theoretically, they could integrate content from the TV’s home screen into their mobile app, but it likely wouldn’t be worth their investment.
On the contrary, services that own the TV’s content (e.g., streaming services or cable) could incorporate it into a remote app to fully utilize phones’ graphics, CPUs, and touchscreens and outshine physical remotes.
Enter YouTube TV
(and Xfinity and Spectrum)
Cable providers control live TV, DVR recordings, and movie rentals. Therefore, they can create dynamic remote controls to integrate this content. For the first time in history, communication between the remote and TV became bi-directional (via the internet), allowing for truly smart interfaces.
Because YouTube TV provides live TV via the cloud, users can watch anywhere in the world, provided that anywhere has an internet connection. And if anywhere happens to be near your physical TV, handoff allows you seamlessly switch displays.
As a remote control, the app provides previews of live TV broadcasts, presents upcoming sports games, and recommends what to watch with an algorithm. Best of all, the app pre-records movies and TV shows it thinks you might like to watch later.
These features solve pain points so engrained, I didn’t notice them until they were gone. I used to select sports games to check the score and clock to see if they were worth watching, but now that info is available in the preview. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through hundreds of cable channels for something interesting, I almost always find something to watch in the “recommended” list.
What’s Next?
As of 2022, only cable providers have taken the leap into interactive mobile remotes while streaming services and smart TV providers haven’t: notably Apple, a smart TV provider and streaming service. I suspect this is because cable dominates most remote-controlled interaction; people spend more time flipping between cable channels than selecting a 2-hour movie and reclining.
Alphabet is uniquely positioned as the owner of a smart TV, TV operating system, cable service, and streaming service. They could create the first smart app to control the entire TV experience from turning it on and off, controlling the OS, browsing live cable content, and streaming media.