OTTAWA,
June 17, 2014 /CNW/ - The members of
the Open IPTV Forum and the HbbTV Association are pleased to
announce that they have merged their future activities into a
single organization within the legal structure of the HbbTV
Association. This merger will be functional after June 16, 2014.
This decision is based on the recognition that the
markets of OTT, HBB, and IPTV are coming closer together, and
barriers between the models are becoming smaller. With this action,
both the Open IPTV Forum and the HbbTV Association have chosen to
react proactively and in a timely manner to these market
trends.
With the recognition that there is a significant
overlap between their activities and membership, as well as
complementary work which could enhance both, the members of the
Open IPTV Forum and the HbbTV Association have approved the plan to
integrate OIPF's future activities into the HbbTV organization.
There is a strong desire to continue to build on
both organizations' strengths through a merging of their activities
in order to better serve the interests of all the stakeholders as
well as the consumers in the markets that each organization
currently serves. Both organizations' members agree that the
fastest and most efficient way to continue this partnership will be
through the legal structure of the HbbTV Association.
Nilo Mitra,
president of the Open IPTV Forum, commenting on his membership's
decision, said "The single organization we have created will ensure
that the common platform based on the OIPF browser and used by
HbbTV will evolve in a compatible way to serve all three types of
service delivery models covered by both our members - over-the-top,
hybrid broadcast/broadband and IPTV."
Klaus Illgner,
chairman of the HbbTV Steering Group adds: "We're looking towards a
converging future requiring us to adjust industry standards to
changing market demands. By merging with the Open IPTV Forum, we're
continuing to take steps to remain at the forefront of trends in
the TV industry." He continues: "We are excited by this opportunity
and welcome the new members from OIPF who will work with us to
define the next wave of TV standards. The OIPF has been an industry
leader in defining the IPTV evolution and we are excited to harness
their expertise, insights and specifications into future HbbTV
initiatives."
About Open IPTV Forum (www.oipf.tv)
The Open IPTV Forum enables and accelerates
creation of a mass market for IPTV by defining and publishing
free-of-charge standards-based specifications for end-end IPTV
services of the future.
Founding members Ericsson, Orange, TP Vision,
Samsung, Sony Corporation and Telecom Italia, were joined by other
leading industry stakeholders including:
Abox42, Accenture Global Services Limited,
Alcatel-Lucent, Arris, BluFocus, BBC, Broadpeak, DCC Labs,
Deutsche Telekom, Digitsoft.tv, Digital TV Labs, Dolby,
DotScreen, DTG Testing Limited, DTS, Espial, Fraunhofer, Huawei,
Humax, IRT, Mstar Semiconductor, Nagra, Opera Software,
PCCW, Penki Kontinentai, Perpetual Solutions, Quiptel, Rogers,
Rovi, Streamhub, Testronics, The Weather Network, 3 Screen
Solutions, TNO, Toshiba, UXP Systems, Verimatrix and Zenterio.
Members of the Open IPTV Forum have worked on the
development of open specifications because they recognize that
combining the expertise of all parties involved will help to
streamline and accelerate deployments of IPTV technologies. Their
aim is to make the next generation of IPTV a mass-market service
and to maximize the benefits of IPTV and Connected TVs for
consumers as well as the industry.
As a collaborative industry body the OIPF has
incorporated existing standards wherever possible - OIPF
specifications have also been adopted by complementary industry
groups including the HbbTV Association.
Questions about the OIPF may be directed to
contact@oipf.tv
About HbbTV Association (www.hbbtv.org)
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (or "HbbTV") is a
major global initiative aimed at harmonising the broadcast and
broadband delivery of entertainment services to the end consumer
through connected TVs and set top boxes. The HbbTV specification
was developed by industry leaders to effectively manage the rapidly
increasing amount of available content targeted at today's end
consumer. It is based on elements of existing specifications
including OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB, MPEG-DASH and W3C.
SOURCE ESPIAL GROUP