Virgin Media is making AI robots watch live TV
Key Points
- Virgin Media O2 has enlisted AI robots to monitor its television network in real-time.
- The AI robots mimic the experience of real viewers and are trained to identify issues with broadcast quality, including video and audio issues.
- The AI checks 220 channels and monitors the busiest ones every six minutes.
- This follows VodafoneThree using AI to monitor video of its network buildout to flag potential issues and improve efficiency.
Virgin Media O2 has created its own AI robots to monitor its television network in real-time, mimicking the experience of real viewers.
The AI used by Virgin Media watch IPTV services exactly as customers experience them, continually checking channels for any issues with broadcasting, such as degraded video or audio quality.
This is accomplished using automated monitoring technology, which sends an alert to human monitoring teams whenever an issue is detected.
The company states that this practice makes it easier for it identify, investigate, and fix issues that are impacting the quality of its television service in a way that is more accurate than ever before.
Overall, the AI robots monitor 220 channels, checking in at regular intervals. The most-watched channels are checked every six minutes to ensure that Virgin Media O2 has clear visibility over its customers’ experience at all times.
Now that it has set up AI robots to monitor its television service in real-time, the company is exploring additional ways to use AI in its products, including using the technology to identify and investigate other service issues.
“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,” said Virgin Media O2 chief technology officer Jeanie York.
“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,” York said.
“This new capability is another innovative step in giving our customers a great experience and ensuring we provide the reliable TV service they expect.”
VodafoneThree paying AI to watch engineering videos
Virgin Media O2 is not the first UK telecommunications company to use AI to monitor live video. VodafoneThree announced earlier this month that it was using an AI platform to watch videos of engineering work to help keep its network buildout on schedule.
The operator partnered with Vyntelligence, a London-based company whose Vyn platform has field engineers capture short, guided videos of their work on mobile sites.
The AI then reviews build quality in near real-time, flagging risks and safety concerns and confirming when a site is ready to go live.
VodafoneThree maintains that this video-first approach creates a more streamlined and consistent way to evidence work on site, while cutting the administrative load on engineers.
