Interactive TV News Round-Up (I): Antik Technology, Apple TV, ATIS

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been busy this week working on the TV of Tomorrow Show 2011, we are covering recent news in round-up/summary form. Once again, we anticipate that it will take us a few days to catch up with all the news we plan to cover: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

• Slovakian device manufacturer, Antik Technology, has announced the launch of Juice TV Anywhere, a placeshifting device that is designed to complement its Juice line of IPTV set-top boxes and to re-stream video content to tablets, laptops, smartphones and other connected devices. "Juice TV Anywhere is a compact USB dongle ready to control, transcode and re-stream video content from Juice Pro and Juice Lite set-top boxes on the screen of a PC or mobile device networked through home network or broadband Internet connection," the company states in its press materials. "Antik will support software client for Windows, iOS, Windows Phone 7 and Android...To take your TV anywhere with you, the new media streamer requires only to plug in the USB dongle into the set-top box...This solution supports adaptive bitrate from hundreds of Kbps to 100 Mbps so the delivered picture is uninterrupted even in low-speed networks."
• Apple has released version 4.2 of its Apple TV software, which among other things offers support for live streaming video from MLB.TV and NBA League Pass. The company's release notes describe the key features of Apple TV 4.2 as follows: " 1) MLB.TV: Watch live and on-demand Major League Baseball games, access stats, scores and standings. 2) NBA: See scores and more, plus League Pass Broadband subscribers get live and archived games. 3) AirPlay for apps: Use AirPlay to wirelessly stream video from apps and Safari on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. 4) Netflix Dolby Digital 5.1: Enjoy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound when watching Netflix movies and TV shows. 5) New slideshow themes: View photos with the new Scrapbook, Photo Mobile, and Holiday Mobile slideshow themes. 6) Improved on-screen keyboard: Search and enter names and passwords more easily with the redesigned on-screen keyboard." Macworld's Christopher Breen has more.
• Standards-development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), has announced the release of two new standards created by the ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum: The "IPTV Content on Demand Service" (ATIS-0800042), which it says specifies functions and interfaces for the delivery of an IPTV content-on-demand service in a managed IP network; and the "Managing the IIF Trust Hierarchy Interoperability Specification" (ATIS-0800023). "The CoD standard marks a major milestone for the IIF's Phase 2 work, which is focused on interactive services including content-on-demand," ATIS states in its press materials. "This comprehensive standard specifies asset preparation, efficient content distribution to service provider servers based on CDN principals, IMS and non-IMS CoD session management for high Quality of Experience, and content delivery to users based on RTP/RTSP or HTTP streaming. The IIF's Phase 3 will focus on expanding the IPTV service offering to include support for Internet-sourced content, adaptive streaming and IPv6...Another recently completed ATIS IIF standard is entitled Managing the IIF Trust Hierarchy Interoperability Specification. To increase interoperability, it is critical to standardize the management mechanisms that establish trust within a network. This includes the revocation of certificates, additions of new Certificate Authorities (CA's), and specifications of rules for handling the operation of the Trust Hierarchy. The specification provides industry with a common standard to be used by all entities that rely on the IIF Trust Hierarchy." Said ATIS president and CEO, Susan Miller: "The new Content on Demand standard marks another significant architecture accomplishment--one of many resulting from the IIF's open, pragmatic approach. With this work complete, the IIF moves the IPTV ecosystem a major step forward in delivering its broad range of interactive options and high-quality viewing experience."