Telus Takes Its TV Service Beyond the Set-Top Box

Telus is expanding its TV+ entertainment platform to Samsung and LG smart TVs, a strategic push to unbundle its service from proprietary hardware and fight for a central role in the living room as viewers abandon traditional cable.

• The all-in-one remote: The company's TV+ service acts as a "super-aggregator," combining live TV, on-demand content, and premium streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Disney+ into a single interface. Built on the 3Ready platform from German tech firm 3SS, the app also includes over 50 free ad-supported streaming (FAST) channels, giving users a unified dashboard for a fragmented media world.

• A defensive play: This move is a direct response to a market in flux. With a reported 42% of Canadian households having already cut the cord, legacy providers like Telus are being forced to adapt or lose customers to a sea of streaming apps. By making its service available directly on popular smart TVs, Telus is fighting to keep subscribers within its ecosystem, a strategy one executive says helps "defend against cord-cutting."

By decoupling its television service from its own hardware, Telus is betting it can become the indispensable master key for the streaming era—owning the user experience no matter what screen they're watching on.

The move comes as Telus continues to diversify far beyond telecom, with major initiatives in digital health and agriculture technology, showing its ambitions extend well beyond the living room.