Adobe and Synacor said they’ve thrown their weight behind a new single sign-on (SSO) authentication system that Apple will be making available on the Apple TV as well as iOS-powered smartphones and tablets.
Apple unveiled the simplified SSO approach Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Starting this fall, users will only have to sign in once on those devices to access authenticated TV Everywhere apps, Apple said, noting that any network-TV app can take advantage of the technology. Per Apple, once a user is signed into one network app, any other app on Apple TV from participating providers will automatically log the user into all other supported apps requiring authentication. Additionally, customers can access page of all the authenticated apps that a pay-TV provider offers during the sign-in process.
Adobe said it is working to incorporate Apple’s new APIs into all Adobe Primetime authentication software development kits, whiel also claiming that its platform is powering authentication for 95% of broadcaster and cable network sites and apps in North America today.
Synacor, meanwhile, announced the release of an identity and management platform that supports Apple’s SSO effort.
Outside the Apple universe, Adobe also collaborated with CTAM on a “unified” TVE authentication platform for in-home and out-of-home access, along with an initial mix of programmers and MVPDs that will support it in the next six to nine months. Synacor said its authentication systems are “in alignment” with CTAM’s guidelines.
Among other Apple TV-facing tidbits announced Monday, Apple said the device currently supports more than 6,000 apps and more than 1,300 video “channels.” Its integration of Siri is now capable of searching more than 650,000 TV episodes and movies. A new “live tune-in” feature will link viewers to a supported app when they command Siri to “Watch CBS News” or “Watch ESPN,” for example.
