Five years ago this week… Ericsson surrendered to Google, announcing at IBC 2016 that it would allow Android TV set tops to work with its MediaFirst TV Platform. Many operators had deserted MediaFirst in the three years since Ericsson had acquired it from Microsoft in 2013, when it was then known as Mediaroom, as they felt their multiscreen needs were too urgent to wait for the re-engineered architecture. In linking MediaFirst with Android TV, operators had an additional pathway to access Ericsson’s cloud-based TV services such as 4K-UHD live channels, VoD, catch-up TV and cloud DVR. Ericsson’s Media Solutions division was divested just one year later, resulting in the creation of MediaKind. — Chinese electronics giant TCL has plunged…