Google TV might be in your hotel room sometime next year, as Google has just struck a deal with DIRECTV to use Google TV as the underlying experience for a new “Advanced Entertainment Platform” designed for hotels and hospitality.
Starting in 2026, DIRECTV will start rolling out its new “Advanced Entertainment Platform” which is based on Google TV. The new experience will enable customers to use streaming apps including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV, YouTube, and more, as well as being able to use Google Cast for sending content from their phones.
DIRECTV says that the goal was to allow guests to access entertainment similar to how they would at home, with “access to live TV, popular streaming apps, and on-demand content.” As such, Google TV does make quite a bit of sense as the underlying foundation.
The experience will also allow guests to sign into their personal accounts and have that data automatically cleared before the next guest checks in.
Guests can seamlessly access their personal streaming accounts through QR code authentication, with automated daily clearing of guest preferences and personal account information, helping ensure data security and privacy protection. Guests also have the option to manually clear their account information prior to checkout.
Obviously, live TV would be handled by DIRECTV itself.
While the experience is based on Google TV, though, it will look nothing like how it does on your TV.
In documents and a website talking about the “Advanced Entertainment Platform,” DIRECTV shows that it is heavily altering the appearance of Google TV for hotel rooms, with a simplified UI that includes customization for the hotel itself, the ability to start playing a channel immediately, and a smaller app drawer. There are no visible content recommendations, as is the case with the standard Google TV experience.
Update: DIRECTV, speaking to 9to5Google, has clarified that the UI shown on its website (pictured below) is not the new Google TV UI, but that the interface being built for hotels will differ from that of the consumer Google TV experience. No images are available yet, but we’ll keep an eye out for more details as they’re available!
Notably, the flexibility of Android TV OS is a big part of the reason the platform grew in the past. The “Operator Tier” of Android TV allowed for heavy customization by companies without losing the features that users liked most, which seems to be the same thing we’re seeing here with Google TV.
Still, Google TV serving as the underlying platform, even with such a drastic difference in design, would be a major improvement over most existing in-room entertainment setups in hotels.
What do you think?
DIRECTV says “full deployment” of this new Google TV system will start in 2026, but there’s no word on what hotels will be adopting it.
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