HbbTV Consortium Ramps up Worldwide Activity

GENEVA, June 25, 2013 /CNW/ - The HbbTV consortium, a pan-European initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, will launch a strategic marketing campaign aimed at increasing global acceptance of the HbbTV standard. As newly appointed co-chairs of the consortium's marketing group, industry experts Kirk Edwardson and Régis Saint Girons will work with the HbbTV membership to increase market awareness of HbbTV and accelerate the worldwide deployment of the standard.

The HbbTV consortium was formally established in 2010 and is made up of more than 60 TV broadcasters and consumer electronics companies. The HbbTV standard provides the industry with an open and business-neutral technology platform that seamlessly combines TV services delivered via broadcast with services delivered via broadband, in addition to enabling access to Internet-only services on connected TVs and set-top boxes.

The standard is already deployed in various European countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey, and a large majority of all connected TV sets sold in Western Europe implements the HbbTV standard. There are currently more than two million active HbbTV receivers in Germany and over half a million active receivers in France. Future HbbTV deployments have also been announced in Europe, Australia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The HbbTV standard is also rapidly gaining additional supporters all around the world including the Americas and Asia.

"Over the last several years, HbbTV has gained significant market momentum and international support," said Klaus Illgner, HbbTV President. "We're very pleased with this growth and look to further increase the presence of HbbTV in Europe and the rest of the world with a renewed marketing focus that will push hybrid television services closer toward becoming a standard feature on connected TVs everywhere."

As co-chairs of the HbbTV consortium's marketing group, Edwardson and Saint Girons will be instrumental to advancing the hybrid television standard.

Edwardson is currently the head of marketing and sales engineering at Espial, a leader in on-demand TV software and solutions, and has been fundamental at driving Espial's business growth. Prior to working at Espial, Edwardson held various marketing leadership positions at Bell Canada, Nortel, and Corel. Edwardson has a bachelor's degree in economics from Carleton University.

Saint Girons has more than 20 years of experience in the middleware and digital TV industry. He is currently the chief executive officer of httv, a leader solution provider for digital and connected TV, and the president of the French HD Forum. Prior to joining httv, he most recently served as senior vice president OpenTV for NAGRA, a Kudelski group company. He has an engineering degree from Polytechnique Lausanne, Switzerland.

About HbbTV (www.hbbtv.org)
The HbbTV consortium is a pan-European initiative aimed at providing an alternative to proprietary technologies and delivering an open platform for broadcasters to deliver value-added on-demand services to the end customer. The founding members of the HbbTV consortium together with a large group of supporters jointly developed the HbbTV specification to create a global standard for hybrid entertainment services. Version 1.2.1 of this specification has been approved by ETSI as ETSI TS 102 796 in November 2012. The consortium is open for new members and seeks wide participation in order to foster the market introduction and continued development of the HbbTV standard. 

SOURCE: ESPIAL GROUP