This could be my issue but not sure if there is a work around
I've got an nVidia Shield, this is hooked up to a Harmony remote (Shield device is set to always be on), Denon receiver and Samsung Plasma TV.
When I open Sportsnet and ultimately pause something, when I change sources (ie Raspberry Pi with Kodi), upon navigating back, the app is closed and anything paused is lost.
However, I have an Amazon Fire stick 4k on another setup (also has Harmony remote, receiver is Onkyo and tv is Samsung 1080i) I can open the same app (I know fire stick is not android tv), pause, move away from that input and return to a pause stream.
I know my two setups are not on the same playing field but used them to compare.
In the end, I would like to pause an NHL game and return to it. Everyone suggests the Shield for streaming etc but this turns me off a bit.
Look in the CEC configuration, I think there's an option to sleep when inputs change. I learned that when you have that on and is controlling the tv with IR, it'll send the “tv off” signal when you change inputs and turn everything off...