Espial Elevates Itself With Amazon Alexa Voice Support

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The Espial Elevate cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) video platform now features a next-generation user interface with voice control, allowing consumers to search, discover, and control live TV, on-demand content, and recordings using their voice.


Compatible with all Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, Espial Elevate supports voice controls for a range of features to provide an exceptional video experience for consumers. These include quick channel changes, search, user interface navigation, trick play management, and playback of time-shift TV, VOD, and DVR recordings.

“We are excited that Espial has integrated Alexa into the Elevate video platform,” said Amazon VP Daniel Rausch. “Offering the ability to easily find content, control playback, and change channels, hands-free, will help Elevate customers interact with their favorite content in a way that is simple and intuitive — just ask Alexa.”

Mick McCluskey, head of product management at Ottawa, Ontario-based Espial, added, “Adding Amazon Alexa support to our Elevate platform allows pay-TV operators to ride the wave of consumer excitement and the massive industry investment in voice technology. Today’s television viewers want simplicity when it comes to their entertainment experience. Offering advanced voice control on our Elevate user interface dramatically reduces the time to discover content. When viewers are satisfied, they watch longer, which leads to increased customer retention and revenues for pay-TV operators.”

Elevate is built on a multitenant cloud platform designed to allow operators to deliver “a richer and more immersive video experience” to subscribers across all devices, including set-top boxes and consumer-owned screens.