Interactive TV for reception areas, waiting rooms or reception desks: how it impacts a company’s image

What is interactive television and how can it benefit businesses?

In simple terms, interactive digital television (IPTV / WEB TV) is a service broadcast via the internet (rather than via an aerial or cable), which allows you to control the content: choose channels, view a programme archive and customise your favourites list. Unlike conventional terrestrial TV, where you simply watch whatever is being shown at that very moment, an interactive service works like a building block system — you decide for yourself what to show on the screen, when and how.

Technically, this is achieved via IPTV / OTT — technologies where the signal is delivered not via the airwaves, but through a standard internet connection. If you compare it to the habit of watching videos on YouTube instead of switching between channels with an aerial around the house, the principle is very similar: the content «arrives» via the network, rather than being «picked up» from the air.

For businesses, this solution offers benefits in several areas at once:

• It showcases the company’s work. A screen in the reception area can be used to show visitors the company’s internal processes, a portfolio of completed projects or customer testimonials — things that a manager doesn’t always have time to explain.
• It helps clients take their minds off things whilst they wait. Interesting content or useful information reduces the subjective perception of waiting time — clients feel less anxious and enter the office in a better mood.
• It builds trust even before the first point of contact. A well-thought-out system that works down to the smallest detail (such as a screen in the reception area) subconsciously translates into trust in the company’s core product or service.
• It showcases the brand’s modernity. Streaming high-quality content in HD is immediately perceived as a sign of a technologically advanced company.

Whilst a customer is waiting to be seen, that very same screen can discreetly provide information about the company’s additional services — something no manager would have time to do during a brief conversation.

The interactive TV service is particularly well-suited to:

• medical centres and clinics, where patients spend a considerable amount of time in the waiting room;
• banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions with queues for appointments;
• hotels, restaurants and HoReCa establishments, where the atmosphere in the lobby shapes a guest’s first impression;
• company offices that receive clients or partners in the reception area.

An important point to note: the reception area is a public space

It is worth pausing here to consider a point that is often overlooked. A reception area, lobby or waiting room is not a living room at home, but a public space where content is viewed by many people at once. And that is precisely why simply broadcasting TV channels intended for domestic, family viewing at home in a commercial premises may constitute a copyright infringement.

Put simply: a licence to watch TV channels at home allows you and your family to view the content, but does not automatically grant the right to broadcast that same signal in a public place — such as an office, shop, waiting room or restaurant. To do so, the provider must have a separate licence for public retransmission, confirmed by contracts with the channels’ rights holders. Without such authorisation, a company that simply connects a domestic TV package in its reception area risks infringing the law without even realising it.

Maxnet holds a licence to publicly broadcast certain TV channels; therefore, for customers wishing to subscribe to the service specifically for HoReCa or other commercial use (B2B), our specialists put together separate business packages — at rates different from those in the residential segment — which take into account the right to public screening.

How to choose the contents of a business package

Each business decides for itself how to put together its TV package — there is no single correct answer:

• Commercials — the company’s own adverts, presentations and promotional offers.
• Background music — if you simply want to create a pleasant atmosphere without active video content.
• TV programmes — news, entertainment or English-language channels, depending on the venue’s audience.
• A mix — a combination of several options, for example, alternating between your own adverts and TV channels.

However, the simplest and, at the same time, safest option is IPTV from a provider who can confirm, via an official contract, the right to retransmit or create a personalised package of TV channels. This removes legal risks for the business and shifts the responsibility for licensing to the service provider.

At present, this issue may not seem particularly critical to many business owners — in practice, few people check venues for licences. However, over time, as Ukraine becomes further integrated into the EU, compliance with copyright laws regarding the public broadcast of content is likely to become an increasingly important aspect of doing business. Therefore, giving this matter careful consideration in advance is a sensible proactive step.

How to choose an IPTV provider

When choosing an IPTV provider, there are several points to bear in mind:

• - broadcast stability (to ensure the screen doesn’t «freeze» just when there are a lot of people in the reception area);
• - the quality of technical support;
• - flexibility in channel configuration;
• - the existence of official licences for public retransmission;
• - the ability to integrate the service with the office’s existing internet connection.

At Maxnet, interactive TV for business is easy to set up: it works via the company’s existing internet connection, requires no complex equipment and can be easily tailored to the needs of a specific space — whether it’s a small reception area with a few armchairs or a spacious waiting room in a large medical centre. For B2B clients, our specialists immediately select a legally compliant business channel package, so the issue of licensing is resolved right at the connection stage.

IPTV for businesses is no longer just a «telly in the corner», but a fully-fledged digital service that works to enhance the company’s reputation every minute whilst the customer is waiting to be seen. Carefully curated, legally licensed content and the broadcasting of the company’s own information about its services — all of this creates the impression of an attentive, modern and legally compliant company even before the first direct contact with its product.