Streaming Video Alliance Opens Applications for 2019 Membership Grant Program

FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Streaming Video Alliance (the Alliance), an industry forum solving challenges to improve the video experience, today announced that applications will open starting September 1, 2018 for its Membership Grant Program. In its second year, the Program enables smaller organizations, such as startups that may not have the financial means to cover the Alliance's normal membership fees, to participate in and contribute to the Alliance's work as Principal Members for one year. The Alliance also announced that its Q3 European Meeting will be hosted in Budapest by principal member IBM.

"Our first year of offering membership grants was a great experience all around and we look forward to welcoming new grant members into the Alliance in 2019," said Jason Thibeault, Executive Director at the Alliance. "One of the driving forces behind this program was to add more voices and perspectives from innovative smaller companies and startups  to the Alliance. We are very appreciative of the contributions our grant recipients have made to date in 2018."

The 2018 grant recipients include organizations ranging from content delivery to broadcast scaling and watermarking. The four companies and two individuals chosen by the Alliance board of directors from the 2018 applicant pool include: BlueFrame Technology, ContentArmor, Touchstream, Phenix, Ketan Bhardwaj and Rob Dillon.

"We've been contributing to the Alliance's Scaling Working Group and have been immersing ourselves in dialogue with other member companies," said Stefan Birrer, PhD, CEO and co-founder, Phenix. "As the content viewing industry shifts, our membership this year in the Alliance is another important way for us to stay ahead of trends and work toward advancing our services for our customers."

"The Alliance members have been incredibly welcoming, and we have certainly benefited from being a part of the quarterly meetings where we get to spend valuable time with our peers and work toward solving some of the biggest issues in the streaming industry," said Brenton Ough, CEO Touchstream Media.

"Common standards and best practices are more important than ever to ensuring the best possible viewer experiences," said Alain Durand, ContentArmor, CEO. "We're very pleased with the Alliance's added focus on forensic watermarking, and we had the opportunity to contribute to the recently published document on this topic as part of the Piracy and Protection Working Group. We're looking forward to attending the October member meeting in Budapest and continuing the conversations around combating piracy of online video content."

The Alliance will accept three companies into the 2019 Membership Grant Program. Interested parties can apply here: https://www.streamingvideoalliance.org/join-today/grant-program/.

As principal members for 2019, the recipients will be involved in various working groups and will participate in the Alliance's quarterly member meetings.

Upcoming Quarterly Member Meeting in Budapest
The Alliance's Q3 European meeting will be hosted by principal member IBM and will be held at their state of the art labs in the center of Budapest, Hungary. Working Groups in the areas of Measurement/QoE, Open Caching, Geo, Advertising, Privacy & Protection, Networking & Transport, Live Streaming, and the VR Study Group will meet at this event. More details regarding this meeting can be found at: https://www.streamingvideoalliance.org/calendar/

Members of the Alliance include companies and individuals from across the streaming video ecosystem such as network operators, technology providers, service providers, and content owners. Current members are: Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Anevia, Arris, Bamtech Media, Beamr, Blue Frame, CBC, Cedexis, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Ciena, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Concurrent, ContentArmor, Conviva, Digital Element, Dolby, Edgeware, Ericsson, Espial Group, FOX Networks, Friend MTS, Globo, Google, Harmonic, Hughes Satellite Systems, IBM, Intel, Interra Systems, Irdeto, Ketan Bhardwaj, Liberty Global, Limelight Networks, NBCUniversal, NCTA, NetInsight, NeuLion, Neustar, Nexguard, Nice People at Work, Nokia, NTT East, Opticom GmbH, OWNZONES, Phenix, Qwilt, Rob Dillon, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Sky, SSIMWAVE, System73,  Tektronix, Telecom Italia, Telestream, Touchstream, Unified Streaming, Verimatrix, Verizon, Viacom, ViaSat Inc., Videastream, Western Digital Corp., and Wowza Media Systems.

For more information on the Alliance, the Working Groups, or to inquire about becoming a member, visit www.streamingvideoalliance.org.

About the Streaming Video Alliance
Founded in 2014, the Streaming Video Alliance is a global association of organizations from across the video ecosystem that have come together to collaborate on building solutions to the technical challenges facing the streaming video industry. Through best practices, specifications, functional requirements, proof-of-concepts, and other documents published by its working and study groups, the Alliance strives to improve the end-user video experience and promote increased adoption of streaming. For more information, please visit www.streamingvideoalliance.org.

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SOURCE Streaming Video Alliance