We get the question daily:  "Can I watch pro sports / hollywood movies in my bar from a streaming provider?"

The answer (today) is - not usually legally.  The exception is Peacock TV available via Joe Hand Promotions.

There have been significant lawsuits for violations of this type of content rights violation.

Here are the most commonly asked about streaming providers:

DirecTV streaming - Allonis contacted DirecTV and there is no legal way of using DirecTV Streaming in a public venue

YouTube TV - The allure is the NFL Sunday Ticket that YouTube TV recently purchased the rights to distribute.  But it is not legal for a bar / restaurant to broadcast this content.  Residential use only.

Netflix - Same as DirecTV

Peacock TV - legal for public venues but requires a Chromecast hardware available only through Upshow.  Required is a small wireless keyboard for selection of streams.  Allonis has integrated this to our "myPreview" system that allows for semi integrated on tablet view of the UpShow player.

YouTube videos - This gets tricky.  It depends on who owns the video content.  For most content that isn't licensed, then yes they can be displayed in a bar / restaurant.

 

So, the best recommendation is to continue using DirecTV satellite receivers, or CableTV receivers WITH a public venue subcription to display content legally to your customers.  Allonis continues to have great control over these systems and our TVGuide makes it very easy to lookup a program and either switch immediately, or schedule the channel change automatically using myServer 6 control system.

 

The next piece of good news is myServer already supports most all popular streaming hardware including:

FireTV Cube / FireTV Sticks (via IP) - Allonis Digital Signage system typically uses these players.

AppleTV (via IP)

Roku (via IP)

AndroidTV (via IP)

TizenTV (via IP - built into Samsung TVs)

NvidiaShield (via IP)

 

Since all of the players are HDMI outputs, they will work with most any video matrix system with seamless control from the myServer 6 control system.

Allonis also has the optional "myPreview" hardware / software that allows for viewing the HDMI source(s) directly on the iPad control user interface.  This makes it easy to navigate app based content to select what you want to watch.  Then, switch the video matrix to use that source to show it to your customers.

 

So, if / when content licensing does allow for an App to display restricted content in public venues - support for this is easy to add when you transition your account!  We can remotely connect to the system add add the streaming player support for a reasonable cost.

 

Allonis tries to track these issues closely.  We will update this webpage when we hear of a change to keep you informed.