HBBTV

Digital TV client software provider, ANT, said Monday that it has partnered with set-top box manufacturer, Humax, to bring what it claims is the first Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) set-top box to market. According to the company, Humax has chosen the ANT Galio HbbTV platform for its new iCord HD+ satellite set-top, which began shipping to German retail outlets earlier this month. The box is billed as allowing viewers to access a range of hybrid services including ARD Mediathek, Tagesschau, ARTE, Internet radio, Maxdome and Wikipedia.

The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (note: the latter, generally referred to as the EBU, is a confederation of 75 mostly public service broadcasters from 56 countries) has issued a public statement of support for "hybrid broadcast broadband" (i.e. for technologies that make "both broadcast and broadband available on the same television display"), describing the emerging phenomenon as "one of the most exciting developments in the media today."

Germany's Institut fuer Rundfunktechnik (IRT), a founding member of the industry consortium behind "Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV" (HbbTV), a pan-European initiative that describes its goal as "harmonizing the broadcast and broadband delivery of news, information and entertainment to the end consumer through TV's and set-top boxes with an optional Web connection" (note: other consortium members include Canal+, France Televisions and TF1; satellite operator SES Astra; and software providers OpenTV, ANT and Opera Software), last week announced the completion of the first HbbTV interoperability workshop, and also revealed that the consortium has submitted the HbbTV 1.1.1 specification draft (a copy of which can be downloaded from the HbbTV Web site) to int

Browser specialist, Opera Software, announced last week that it has joined the industry consortium behind "Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV" (HbbTV), a pan-European initiative that describes its goal as "harmonizing the broadcast and broadband delivery of news, information and entertainment to the end consumer through TV's and set-top boxes with an optional Web connection" (note: other consortium members include Canal+, France Televisions and TF1; Germany's Institut fuer Rundfunktechnik; satellite operator SES Astra; and software providers OpenTV and ANT).

The Technical Committee of the European Broadcasting Union (note: the latter, generally referred to as the EBU, is a confederation of 75 mostly public-service broadcasters from 56 countries) announced this week that it has agreed to a set of measures for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband (HBB) services and devices.

The [itvt] editorial team is currently traveling in the UK, and, because of time constraints, we are covering a number of this issue's news stories in round-up/summary form. We anticipate some additional interruption of our regular news publishing schedule in the coming days, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers. Here is the round-up:

Because of the large volume of news generated by the ongoing IBC show in Amsterdam, and because the [itvt] editorial team is currently traveling in the UK, we are covering a number of this issue's news stories in round-up/summary form. We anticipate some additional interruption of our regular news publishing schedule in the coming days, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers. Here is the round-up: