ocap

enableTV, the interactive TV software and services company that in 2008 was spun out of Vidiom Systems by Vidiom founder, Tim Wahlers (see the article published on itvt.com, September 29th, 2008), last week announced the release of version 2.1 of its DV-TIDE PC-based headend solution for ETV/EBIF and OCAP/tru2way application delivery. According to the company, DV-TIDE 2.1 supports host control over multiple DV-TIDE systems with a combined channel map, and delivery of bound and unbound ETV/EBIF and OCAP/tru2way applications. It provides testing in an environment similar to a cable plant without a headend at a fraction of the cost, the company claims.

itaas--an Atlanta-based company which provides a range of software development, integration and testing services for interactive TV (including ETV/EBIF, tru2way and IPTV solutions), and which earlier this week (see the article published on itvt.com, May 11th) announced that it had ported the EBIF user agent of Comcast-subsidiary, TVWorks, to Cisco set-top boxes--today (Wednesday) announced that it has signed an agreement with Charter Communications that includes licensing, installation and support for the TVWorks ETV platform. According to the company, the agreement includes the EBIF user agent, the Pathway Communications Suite and the OCAP Services Library (OSL) components of the interactive platform.

The [itvt] editorial team is currently on the road, so we are covering today's stories in round-up/summary form. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers.

enableTV, the interactive TV software and services company that was spun out of Vidiom Systems last year by Vidiom founder, Tim Wahlers (see article published on itvt.com, September 29th), announced Monday that it has developed a modular platform for interactive TV application deployment that uses proprietary software components called "cablewidgets." According to the company, each cablewidget is an individual interactive software application that can be combined with o

OEDN.net (note: the name is an acronym for "OCAP/EBIF Developer Network), an organization which is attempting to drive application development efforts using the US cable industry's OCAP/tru2way and EBIF middleware standards and whose backers include Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Charter and Bright House, said Tuesday that it is now hosting its first free OCAP/tru2way sample application, a simple stopwatch app.

At the NCTA Cable Show in Washington, DC Monday, US cable industry research, development and standardization body, CableLabs, and Canoe Ventures--the company that is implementing Project Canoe, the US cable industry's initiative to create a national unified platform for interactive and addressable advertising (it is backed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House)-- announced a new draft reference architecture specification that is designed to further the development of advanced cable advertising products.

InteractiveTV Today [itvt], the first, best and most widely read news source on interactive and multiplatform television, is pleased to present the third annual TV of Tomorrow Show, March 10th-11th (Tuesday-Wednesday), 2009 in San Francisco, California at the famous Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

--Company's European Arm Begins Major Push for the EMEA Region

--Secures Multiple EPG Deals for Latin America and Europe

SysMedia, a UK-based company that specializes in content-management and production systems for teletext, subtitling and interactive TV, contacted [itvt] last week to let us know that it has expanded its Plasma Gold interactive content production and management system with a new output module that enables delivery to mobiles (note: according to SysMedia, Plasma Gold separates content from the way it's presented, using a templated design, and so offers "a powerful author-once/publish-to-many solution for multiplatform content production"; the company says that the platform is compliant with OCAP, ETV/EBIF and ACAP and also supports IPTV deployments).

--Launches OCAP Development Toolkit
--Launches New Set-Top Platform Offering Media Mobility
--Secures Deals with T-Home, Ziggo

[itvt] has learned that Geneva-based ADB Group, which acquired US
tru2way/OCAP specialist, Vidiom Systems, back in February, 2006,
has sold parts of that company's professional services business back to

ActiveVideo Networks (formerly ICTV) recently appointed interactive TV pioneer,
John Callahan, as its CTO. Callahan previously spent 15 years at Time Warner
Cable, where he was involved in many of the operator's interactive TV and
VOD initiatives, and where he served most recently as SVP of software
engineering for its Advanced Technology Group. He was a significant
contributor to the creation of the Time Warner Cable Pegasus digital television
system architecture, and to such seminal interactive TV technologies and
standards as the Interactive Services Architecture (ISA), VOD, OCAP and

--New HITS AxIS Clients are NDS, Softel-USA, S&T, and Unisoft
--Buckeye CableSystem to Serve as Beta Site for HITS AxIS ITV Services