Nuance and Universal Electronics Bring Conversational Interface to yes DBS in Israel

BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 19, 2017 -- Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) and Universal Electronics (UEI) (NASDAQ:UEIC) today announced that they power the first conversational interface for Pay TV in Israel for yes. yes, the sole direct satellite broadcast provider in Israel, will launch their first voice-powered remote control in September 2017, making it easier than ever before for subscribers to search and find premium video content in both Hebrew and English.

Nuance’s Dragon TV platform will be integrated into the UEI-developed remote control for yes, allowing customers to experience a new voice interface that results in fast and relevant access to the yes TV ecosystem, including content and services. The smart remote control will support a variety of requests like “Search for Game of Thrones” or “Julia Roberts” for films with Julia Roberts.

“We don’t want our subscribers to miss a minute of their favourite content, so making it easy to find, access and discover is important. By partnering with UEI and Nuance, we’ve created a new, customized conversational interface that is intelligent, intuitive and interactive,” said Itzhak Elyakim, VP Engineering and CTO, yes.

“We are proud to have been providing yes with all of their control technology for the past 17 years. By combining this great customer understanding with our wealth of experience in designing and manufacturing voice remotes we, together with Nuance, have created another phenomenal user experience," says Menno Koopmans, Managing Director EMEA/International at UEI. "When implementing voice control technology, it is not about IF it works, it’s all about HOW WELL it works. The challenge is to get the system to flawlessly work with over 95% accuracy, or else consumers will try and stop using it. This requires a great system architecture, acoustics design, and testing and calibration capability. As UEI designs and manufactures everything under one roof, we have been able to master the skill like no other. The fact that we have shipped around 60% of the world demand for pay TV voice remotes controls speaks for itself.”

“TVs aren’t just a box in the middle of our living room – they are the gateway to entertainment, content and information central to the smart home. Service providers have so much to offer, and we’ve seen just how successful voice can be in making it all fully accessible – creating new opportunities for the subscriber and for the operator with new revenue and engagement potential,” said Dan Faulkner, senior vice president and general manager, Communications Service Providers, Nuance Mobile. “Working closely with UEI, we’ve integrated our AI-driven Dragon TV speech recognition solution as part of the yes remote control that delivers an amazing experience for their subscribers – fully optimized to create an intuitive and conversational user interface that transforms the electronic program guide into an interactive experience finding and delivering content across thousands of titles, names and programs.”

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com. 

Trademark reference: Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners

About Universal Electronics

Universal Electronics Inc. (NASDAQ:UEIC) is the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home. For more information, please visit www.uei.com/about.

About yes
"yes- DBS Satellite Service" launched in July 2000 and since has recruited 603,000 subscribers constituting a 43% share of Israel's multi-channel television market, employing 1,750 employees. The company's turnover in 2016 totaled 1.745 billion NIS and is fully owned by Bezeq. "yes" offers its subscribers an all-inclusive and constantly innovative home-entertainment experience including a wide selection of 150 video channels in a variety of genres, a large assortment of radio and music channels, and an extensive offering of advanced viewing services including on-demand and on-the-go. Regarded as the leading content provider in Israel "yes" is also positioned as one of the leading platforms in the world in terms of quality, abundance and variety of programming. Learn more about yes on https://www.yes.co.il/

Contact Information

For Press US
Kate Hickman
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Tel: 781-565-4627
Email: [email protected]

For Press EMEA
Vanessa Richter
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Tel: + 32 475769507
Email: [email protected]