Advanced Television

Hybrid TV drive from EBU

December 2, 2011

By Colin Mann

More than 20 members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have agreed to collaborate to unlock the full potential of Hybrid TV for a European roll-out of the technology in 2012.

This group of public service broadcasters will exchange best practices and support one another to push through a fast, comprehensive roll-out of hybrid television services by EBU Members in 2012.

Underpinning the cooperation is the shared conviction that only high quality, creative content can breathe life into the promise of hybrid technology, and only a flexible, cross-border approach will create the necessary impetus.

In signing up to the Hybrid TV project, the participating members are making a commitment both to open standards, such as HbbTV, MHP and MHEG5, and to delivering a compelling new experience to their audiences.

The EBU will host a Creative Content Workshop on 3 February 2012 to enable all EBU Members to share experiences and ideas for hybrid applications. A new ‘interactive group’ of creative experts from EBU Member organiations will oversee the sustainable exchange of best practice and innovation in the hybrid sphere.

Participating EBU Members are ARMTV (Armenia); ORF (Austria); RTBF (Belgium); HRT (Croatia); CyBC (Cyprus); Czech TV (Czech Republic); DR (Denmark); YLE (Finland); France Télévisions (France); ARD and ZDF (Germany); MTV Magyar Radio (Hungary); RTE (Ireland); RAI (Italy); RTCG (Montenegro); NPO (Netherlands); NRK (Norway); TVP (Poland); TVR (Romania); Rozhlas (Slovakia); RTVSLO (Slovenia); RTVE (Spain); TRT (Turkey); NTU (Ukraine).

Noticeable by its absence is the BBC, which is part of the consortium developing the YouView open hybrid IPTV platform for the UK, with launch scheduled for 2012.

 

 

Categories: Articles, HbbTV, IPTV, OTT