Open IPTV Forum and HbbTV Association Merge their Activities

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 [email protected]

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