Zattoo, the European provider of streaming and TV-as-a-Service, is presenting four new prototypes at IBC 2026. Among them is a live television delivery chain based on Media over QUIC (MoQ) which, in tests, reduces latency by more than 80 percent to around two seconds.
All four prototypes come from Zattoo’s annual Hackdays, in which teams built more than a dozen internal projects in three days. The four heading to Amsterdam run on production hardware and under real operator conditions. None of the four is commercially available yet, but they mark the near future of the market.
The four prototypes
Live delivery with Media over QUIC. MoQ is an IETF specification for live media that is still in development – and the prerequisite for real-time AI, because AI speech features, dubbing and live translation do not work with broadcast delay. Zattoo’s prototype takes in live broadcast signals via a relay on Zattoo infrastructure and plays them back in the browser, on Tizen WebTV and on Android TV. Zattoo’s production platform today works with 1.6-second segments, against an industry norm of 4 to 8 seconds, and delivers live TV in 10 to 13 seconds from signal input to playback on the device. The prototype achieved around two seconds end to end.
AI-powered channel marketplace. For operators, assembling a channel line-up has so far been a manual process of requests, follow-up questions and quotation loops. The prototype, built with the help of AI design tools, turns this into self-service: operators put together channels from a catalogue, and the resulting proposal goes straight to the sales team. Time-to-quote can thus fall from weeks to days.
AI subtitle translation. AI-generated subtitle tracks in languages a title was never produced in – for live and on-demand content. The prototype is designed as an option for viewers: subtitles can be selected in a language the viewer understands, translated in real time from an existing track.
AI-gor, conversational discovery. An AI assistant that answers natural-language questions about what is worth watching – an alternative to finding content via grids and rails.
“There is a lot of AI on show at IBC this year, and much of it is still at the concept stage,” says Jörg Meyer, Chief Commercial Officer at Zattoo. “Our prototypes are already running. Now we want to explore with operators which of them create real value for their business and their customers – while keeping both economic and environmental requirements in view.”
The prototypes are the visible part of a longer-term, phased AI roadmap. The next generation of the set-top box comes with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that makes a growing number of use cases possible directly on the device. A large part of the value of AI in television, however, lies behind the screen: in operational efficiency, not only in content discovery for the end customer. Nicolas Westermann, VP Strategy at Zattoo, will make this case on the IBC Content Everywhere panel “Rethinking Streaming Operations” on Friday, 11 September, 14:00–14:45, CE Stage 2, Hall 5 (5.G72).
Operators, content providers and press can book a fixed appointment at Stand 5.F66 in Hall 5 in advance. The Zattoo Business team on the stand will demonstrate all four prototypes; interview requests are handled via the press contact below.
