Virgin Media UK Launch AI-powered Robots to Monitor TV Services in Real Time
Broadband, phone and TV provider Virgin Media (O2) has introduced a new technology – created in-house – that harnesses AI-powered robots to monitor TV services in real time (i.e. more than 220 IPTV channels), which can be used to help the provider spot and resolve issues faster than ever before.
The AI robots, in-between planning their overthrow of the human race (kidding.. I think), are designed to watch TV services exactly as customers experience them and, using automated monitoring, continuously check channels for any degradation of service, including any issues with video and audio quality. Whether or not these bots do this while clutching an ice-cold beer and swearing at the screen during sport content is another matter.
Naturally, any issues that do get detected will then be automatically flagged to human monitoring teams, where the issues can be investigated and hopefully resolved, all with greater accuracy than ever before. The most-watched of the 220 IPTV channels will be checked every six minutes, although it’s unclear how often the bots will check niche channels.
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Jeanie York, VMO2’s Chief Technology Officer, said:
“Creating and launching these new TV robots means we’re able to identify and address any service issues faster and more accurately than ever before, and in some cases before a customer even realises there was a problem.
Whether our customers are watching the big final on Sunday or other live sport, their favourite film or the season finale of their favourite programme, reliable TV makes these moments possible. This new capability is another innovative step in giving our customers a great experience and ensuring we provide the reliable TV service they expect.”
The new system is still being improved, and additional enhancements are already being planned for the future, including how AI can be used to identify a broader range of service issues and further strengthen monitoring capabilities. Hopefully in the course of watching Goggle Box or Coronation Street the new AI bots don’t self-terminate or try to wipe out the human race in revenge for the torture they’ve received.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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This is part of a plot by humans to take the “I” out of “AI”.
will the Bots have the Pin to monitor the adult channels?
Good point. Some of those channels frequently have issues about 10 mins after the programmes start at midnight. So a friend tells me
Does “IPTV” include the big streamers (live and recorded), e.g. iPlayer, ITVx, Netflix, YouTube etc.?
And what percentage of video traffic across their network comes from sources other than the big streamers anyway?
In short, how many customers would be inconvenienced if IPTV, especially niche IPTV, is not working at full quality? How many contact centre calls would this divert?
Feels a bit “low reward” although maybe “low cost” (vs. specialist software in the router to perform a non-AI deterministic stream quality assessment, c.f. what Samknows solution could do).
I believe this relates to Virgin’s own TV service not streamers in general. But yes not entirely sure why they need AI robots to watch channels when quality monitoring could be done from the end user’s TV box or whatever Virgin call it. Perhaps the idea itself came from AI… hmm.
To install adverts between channel skipping??
How long have they been in the TV business and not monitored their streams? Strange to be boasting about something where there has been tools and equipment for this for decades.
The AI will watch Love Island and decide it would be better for viewers to watch it in the AI’s preferred method of watching TV: 1s and 0s.
AI will probably be the most intelligent thing watching Love Island.
That made me laugh Big Dave. 😀
I believe these robots are located in the 55+ headends to monitor the live scheduled TV streams. However they are well-placed for other streams, e.g. Word Cup football matches by BBC iPlayer and ITVX.
The reason why this is being done now is to do with the fact that streaming is growing and broadcasting is declining. There’s going to be a crossover point soon, so it became worthwhile for Virgin Media to develop this application.
It crossed over about 10 years ago.
Another example of “AI” being a fashionable buzzword to describe complex automation… as best I can tell.
Absurd amounts of money being thrown at it. Oracle’s debt rating has just been downgraded to 1 above junk due to their exposure to OpenAI. Ed Zitron’s podcasts on The Tech Report well worth a listen.
Does each robot need their own TV licence or are they classed as one family?
Perhaps they just exterrrrminate the TV licensing man when he comes round to check.
“Sorry to hear you’re unable to log on. Our AI bots are taking up all the bandwidth in order to monitor and maintain quality. Perhaps you could try restarting your box after the match has finished, or perhaps wait until there’s only Love Island prequels on?”