Eureka moment as CanalSat launches recommendation service

French pay TV service CanalSat is to launch a search and recommendation service called Eureka, according to Maxime Saada, deputy director-general in charge of distribution.

According to Saada, Eureka will suggest each evening a list of programmes to match the tastes of each subscribing household with a set-top that is connected to the internet. He said the recommendation engine, the fruit of four years’ development work, would analyse the consumption of each home over the last two weeks and recommend the top six programmes to match the requirements of each home amongst the bouquet’s 300 channels.

The service would also enable subscribers to become aware of programmes that they would not have discovered on their own, he said. Saada described the new servce as the “anti-Google” on the basis that subscribers would not “search” for programmes, but rather would “find” them.

CanalSat will also use its Campus search engine to build thematic on-demand channels from its on-demand offering, including educational programming for children. With M6 Music Player it will also offer a large number of one-hour playlists of music videos.

Other initiatives include a facility to recommend on-demand movies on the basis of those already chosen, and a new kids on-demand offering in partnership with Nickelodeon.