AT&T* is collaborating with 1,000 registered developers through a technology preview of the Entertainment Experience Suite, an AT&T exclusive video toolkit, at the AT&T SHAPE Hackathon. The event takes place July 8-9 at Cross Campus DTLA in Los Angeles.

The Entertainment Experience Suite promises to give developers tools to build impactful video and interactive experiences for their DIRECTV content channels.

With the toolkit, we’re encouraging AT&T SHAPE Hackathon teams to let their imaginations run wild. Developers will use the toolkit to disrupt the way people consume, experience, and engage with their entertainment.

This preview of the developer toolkit currently supports Android, with plans to introduce an iOS version soon. Developers can create experiences using either Windows or MacOS. The toolkit includes:

• Web framework
• Tooling
• APIs
• Code templates

With the toolkit, developers can:

• Reach a wider audience with engagement tailored to your entertainment.
• Create custom channels to meet the needs of your entertainment and audience.

AT&T SHAPE Hackathon participants will compete for over $60,000 in prizes. The prize for best use of the AT&T Entertainment Experience Suite is $5,000.

Application developers can also use other tools, like AT&T Video Optimizer, to provide customers with a better entertainment experience. Video Optimizer is a free, open-source diagnostic tool that developers and testers can use to analyze and optimize their mobile apps for video streaming and other app performance parameters. These include security, data & battery usage, image and file compression and device resource (e.g. GPS, CPU) utilization.

Later this summer we plan to add features to AT&T Video Optimizer that will allow developers to specify their app’s streaming parameters, and to analyze streaming performance on varying network levels to simulate real-life use cases like when mobile users are watching video while travelling in a bus or train.

The hackathon occurs before AT&T SHAPE, a Tech and Entertainment Expo, an event for developers, creators, professionals, and tech and entertainment enthusiasts. After the first round of competition, hackathon finalists will demo their submissions for Best Overall App at SHAPE. We’ll choose a winner Saturday, July 15, during the expo.

At the expo, attendees can watch AT&T SHAPE Hackathon pitches, hear from luminary speakers, experience engaging demos and tour some of Warner Bros. Studios’ iconic sets.