Advanced Television

Licensing boost for HEVC adoption

December 21, 2015

By Colin Mann

The continued roll-out of 4K/UHD services has received a boost following the announcement of an updated royalty rate structure by independent licensing administrator HEVC Advance, following active engagement with market participants across the industry. The updates support accelerated adoption of HEVC in the marketplace for the benefit of both industry and consumers.

“After our initial pricing announcement we re-engaged with key segments of the HEVC community, including content owners and distributors as well as device manufacturers, to better align our licensing structure and rates with the industry’s long-term technology goals,” said HEVC Advance CEO Peter Moller. “We are pleased with the results of our industry engagement and confident that the revised pricing structure and rates balance the needs of both HEVC users and patent owners.”

The resulting adjustments include waiving royalties for public/non-profit TV broadcasting, and content distribution that is free to end-users including over-the-air commercial TV broadcasting and Internet content distribution. In addition, the commercial content distribution structure has been adjusted to provide a simplified royalty rate structure with substantially reduced pricing.

Other adjustments include a reduction in device royalty rates and the introduction of royalty caps for devices and content distributors.

HEVC Advance also announced an incentive programme for existing and future HEVC/H.265 users that complete the HEVC Advance licensing process within a 12-month period. The programme includes a substantial discount for prior sales by existing HEVC device and content distribution providers, as well as an ongoing discount during the initial five-year licence agreement term.

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