{"id":340212,"date":"2017-05-05T22:22:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T14:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1485848"},"modified":"2017-05-05T22:22:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-05T14:22:16","slug":"amazon-fire-tv-code-hints-at-plans-for-single-sign-on-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/amazon-fire-tv-code-hints-at-plans-for-single-sign-on-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Fire TV code hints at plans for single sign-on support"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alongside the rollout of its TV app last year, Apple introduced\u00a0support for single sign-on<\/a>\u00a0in iOS and Apple TV, which allows you to enter\u00a0TV provider\u2019s credentials just once in the Settings so that you can watch streaming TV across a number of authenticated TV apps without having to configure each one with your credentials. Now, it appears that Amazon is working on a similar feature for its Fire TV platform, too.<\/p>\n

According to the site AFTVnews<\/a>, code tucked away in the latest 5.2.4.1 software update<\/a> for the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick includes new \u201cOTTSSO\u201d libraries \u2013 a name that features the commonly used acronyms for \u201cover-the-top\u201d (OTT, referring to streaming services) and \u201csingle sign-on\u201d (SSO).<\/p>\n

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    These libraries were not present in any previous software version, says\u00a0AFTVNews\u2019 Elias Saba, and they\u2019re used to facilitate app activation by the operating system on behalf of the user. Single sign-on appears to be early in its development on Fire TV, however, as there\u2019s not yet a front-end interface for Fire TV users where they could login with their TV provider credentials, he notes.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s really too early to know anything more than SSO being in the works. It seems as though [Amazon]\u00a0wanted to add just enough for third-party app developers under NDA to begin building in support,\u201d Saba\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s also no list of supported apps, though it\u2019s likely that Amazon\u2019s list will be similar to Apple\u2019s, found here.\u00a0<\/a>This includes the major broadcasters like ABC, Fox, and NBC, as well as a number of cable and sports channels, like ESPN, Disney, Bravo, Syfy, TLC, USA, HGTV, Discovery and others.<\/p>\n

    Watching TV through individual network applications is something that those who pay for cable or satellite TV can do by providing their credentials. But it\u2019s still a messy and disjointed experience. Before single sign-on, you would have to painstakingly type in your username and password for each app you wanted to use.<\/p>\n

    But single sign-on alone isn\u2019t enough to simplify things, which is why Apple also\u00a0introduced its own \u201cTV\u201d app<\/a> that aggregates content from across the\u00a0networks\u2019\u00a0apps, as well as from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and others.<\/p>\n

    If Amazon Fire TV were to support SSO, it probably wouldn\u2019t hide all the TV apps\u2019 content and recommendations away into a single app like Apple\u2019s \u201cTV\u201d app, though. Instead, Amazon has been fine-tuning the Fire TV\u2019s user interface<\/a> to pull in content and recommendations from across apps to appear right on the Fire TV home screen. It has already partnered with Netflix and HBO<\/a>\u00a0to deliver personalized suggestions from their services, and it potentially could do the same with other networks\u2019 content down the road.<\/p>\n

    Asked about the apparent forthcoming\u00a0support for SSO on Fire TV, Amazon declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \"\" Alongside the rollout of its TV app last year, Apple introduced\u00a0support for single sign-on\u00a0in iOS and Apple TV, which allows you to enter\u00a0TV provider’s credentials just once in the Settings so that you can watch streaming TV across a number of authenticated TV apps without having to configure each one with your credentials. Now, it appears that Amazon is working on a similar feature… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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    \"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-340212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}