Lightbox busts out of its Samsung cage
Spark's Lightbox adds more gadgets to its line-up.
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Infrastructure
Samsung has tied up exclusive contracts with some streaming services. That's great for the Korean TV, tablet and phone maker but does diminish a service provider's appeal in the wider market.
Spark's Lightbox was one of those that launched with support for Samsung product only in terms of Android tablets and phones and smart TVs. Coliseum Sports Media (now part of Lightbox Sports was another). Coliseum boss Tim Martin made no bones about why: a smart TV app costs close to $80,000 to develop per brand.
Samsung also chipped in for smartphone and tablet apps, and with general advice and know-how. "Without going into specifics, Samsung's contribution has been significant. It adds huge value beyond just cash," Mr Martin said.
The downside is that rivals Netflix and Quickflix already have apps for multiple brands of smart TV and most species of gadgets in general (see a comparative chart at the end of this story).
Anyhow, Lightbox is now broadening its support.
Before today, you could watch its streaming video via Samsung Smart TVs, desktop PCs, laptops, iPads and Samsung tablets, and on Apple TV (not with a native app but with Airplay) plus PlayStation4 and PlayStation3 consoles.
From today, Lightbox adds support for
- Apple iPhones 4s and up (available from iTunes store); and
- All Android smart phones and tablets 4.2 and above (available from Google Play).
Lightbox will also be available to stream through Chromecast in the next few weeks, chief executive Kym Niblock says (Chromecast being a $69 wi-fi dongle that plugs into your TV, making it easier to wirelessly stream content from a phone, tablet or laptop to your television).
Several smart TV brands will also be added to the line-up over the coming weeks,
Ms Niblock says a recent glitch with Google's Chrome browser (caused because Google dropped support for the Microsoft Silverlight technology used by Lightbox) will not affect the Chromecast launch.
Chris Keall
Wed, 06 May 2015
Wed, 06 May 2015
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Lightbox busts out of its Samsung cage
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