LG Uplus Corp. adds weather, news and financial information to U+tv home screen

[Financial News] LG Uplus Corp. is using artificial intelligence (AI) to bring information needed for everyday life, including weather, news, finance and local information, to the TV home screen. It is turning the IPTV home screen—which had focused on channel listings and was often treated as a screen to skip past—into an everyday-information dashboard, allowing users to check daily information without installing a separate app or logging in.
LG Uplus Corp. said on the 26th that it would revamp the U+tv home screen and launch a new service, “U+tv Oneul Ilsang.” The service is a TV screen that displays everyday information at a glance alongside live channels and can be easily used with a remote control.
The home screen lets users check the weather, headline news, financial information, local information and local traffic restrictions. It also offers recommended YouTube content, Wi-Fi information and the U+ Membership perk “Yupeul Ttu-ppeul.”
The weather screen displays location-based information such as the current temperature, hourly and daily forecasts, and fine dust levels. The news section features a list of major articles and their full details, while the financial information section shows the KOSPI Composite Index and KOSDAQ. Local information highlights festivals near users’ homes, and the local traffic section shows restrictions caused by accidents or construction.
The revamp reflects the growing number of customers using TVs for purposes beyond watching content. In a survey of 450 IPTV and cable TV users conducted by LG Uplus Corp., 80% of respondents said they had used a TV for purposes other than watching content.
While the previous U+tv home screen focused on helping users find content to watch, such as movies, dramas and variety shows, “U+tv Oneul Ilsang” is designed to let them check live broadcasts and everyday information together.
The service also adds features reflecting how customers use TVs to find a variety of things to watch and enjoy. With “Home Gallery,” users can link a Google Photos album to U+tv and view family photos on the TV screen. When not watching TV, they can set masterpieces, modern art and calendars as the standby screen.
“U+tv Oneul Ilsang” will be rolled out in stages to UHD3 or later set-top boxes that support the feature. Customers who want to use the previous home screen can change it in the startup screen settings.
Jeong Jin-i, head of the Home & Media Product Tribe at LG Uplus Corp., said, “U+tv Oneul Ilsang is a service designed to reduce the hassle of customers switching between multiple apps and screens to find information, and to let them check the information they need at a glance on a TV they are familiar with.” Jeong added, “We will continue to expand features closely connected to everyday life so customers can use U+tv more easily and conveniently.”
[email protected] Yoon Hong-jip Reporter