Telefónica appeals to start-ups for new TV app experiences

Telefónica has launched a programme aimed at start-ups that wish to develop apps for its television platform, Movistar+.

The Telefónica Activation Programme: Living Apps invites start-ups to develop new digital home experiences for the company’s customers.

Telefónica said it was opening up the possibility for entrepreneurs to take these television apps to more than one million homes that can be accessed through the Apps section of the Movistar+ main menu.

The call is open to start-ups operating in Spain with a product or service focused on consumers. The selected start-ups will have, free of charge, the necessary toolkit to build their Living App including the technological capabilities of Aura, Telefónica’s virtual assistant, as well as advice from the company’s experts.

Those selected will also be able to add their apps to the Movistar+ Living Apps catalogue for an initial period of three months after which the most successful among will also have the possibility of establishing a commercial relationship with Telefónica.

“One of our main goals is to look for new collaboration models with start-ups. With this initiative, we want to offer them the opportunity to bring a unique digital experience to our customers in their homes through a channel as powerful as television and Movistar+,” said Irene Gómez, director of Connected Open Innovation at Telefónica.

The Telefónica Activation Programme was launched last May. The programme launched a call offering startups the possibility to take advantage of Telefónica’s IoT, blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies to boost their businesses.

In other Telefónica news, the company’s CEO, josé María Álvarez Pallete, has called for a Europe-wide modernisation of taxation, competition and other regulation to enable companies like his own to compete on a level playing field with global bit tech organisations that are not subject to the same regulatory oversight.

Speaking at the Foro Tendencias event, Álvarez Pallete said that “companies that are regulated can’t play in the same field with companies that are not” and warned that technologies such as 5G would fail to get off the ground without change.

The Telefónica CEO said that intra-country consolidation within Europe should be permitted and encouraged in order to build sustainable telecommunication markets.