By Stuart Thomson

Liberty Global-backed Swiss service provider Sunrise UPC has introduced a new streaming-like recommendation feature to its yallo TV service.

Yallo TV now shows selected TV recommendations as video snippets or short video previews. The company said this was intended to address the preferences of younger TV viewers who are used to these forms of video from social media, and that the move offered an alternative to the traditional TV guide.

The introduction of video snippets is the latest in a series of innovations by Sunrise UPC including optimised zapping mode and voice search.

Viewers can view a snippet and then either play the programme directly, record it for later, or check out more information about it.

The new feature is embedded in the home screen and can currently be used with German language settings on the Android TV Box, with the yallo TV app for tablets and smartphones – currently only on Android but with iOS to follow soon – as well as via all common web browsers, such as on PC and laptop. yallo also plans to offer highlights for the Apple TV app and other language profiles.

“yallo is powering ahead as a full-service provider. One month after the launch of our new cable offering and more yallo TV we already have another TV innovation. Following the optimized zapping mode and voice search, we now have the highlights in the form of video snippets. Just like on social media platforms, customers can scroll through video snippets that play automatically and choose their favorite content – this will help us meet the needs of young Gen Z even better,” says chief YOL officer of Sunrise UPC, Christoph Richartz.