Channel 4 has become the first UK broadcaster to launch a streaming app for Apple’s visionOS operating system, which powers the Vision Pro headset.
The new app will enable Vision Pro owners in the UK (the few hundred of them by our reckoning) to enjoy programming in a cinema-style virtual environment or in augmented reality by beaming a larger image onto a living room wall, for instance.
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While we’ve seen both virtual and AR environments for streaming apps before, Channel 4 is also offering bespoke environments for specific content like Taskmaster.
Taskmaster is a hugely popular game show requiring celebrities (mainly panel comedians) to complete zany tasks that are judged by stand-up comedian and Inbetweeners star Greg Davies.
Channel 4 says the environment will take Taskmaster from the TV into the physical world and fits into evolving viewing habits, including importance of adding an experience to accompany a TV show.
In a press release on Tuesday, Channel 4 says: “Viewers can now enjoy Taskmaster right from the Taskmaster set as Channel 4 is the first UK broadcaster to feature an environment to immerse their audience in the experience.
“Users of the Channel 4 app will be transported to the Taskmaster set with its iconic red room, wallpaper, chandeliers, and throne creating the feeling of being immersed in the show itself.”
Nice one, Channel 4
Credit to Channel 4 for boldly going where no UK broadcaster has gone before and investing in a platform that has struggled to see adoption among third-party developers and content creators thus far. For example, YouTube and Netflix, which have resources far eclipsing Channel 4’s, don’t even have a Vision Pro app and haven’t shown an interest in creating one.
