DISH taps Rovi for TV voice controls

US pay TV provider DISH has partnered with Rovi to add the latter’s Conversation Services’ spoken-voice interface to a portfolio of it products. 

During 2015, DISH will add the voice technology into its DISH Explorer second-screen app for iPad, Hopper Voice remote, and its DISH Anywhere mobile app, allowing subscribers to use voice search to find live, recorded or on-demand TV shows and movies.

“Consumers seek a television experience that gets them to their shows with minimal hassle,” said Vivek Khemka, senior vice president of product management at DISH.

“DISH is committed to implementing the best technology for our customers, and we believe the introduction of voice recognition will provide them with a more intuitive search experience.”

Daren Gill, vice president of products, advanced search and recommendations at Rovi, added: “Given the scale of DISH’s subscriber base, we hope to significantly shift the public perception of how people can discover and navigate content with next-gen semantic technologies in ways that have not been possible before.”