August 31, 2015

Two milestones for HbbTV: interoperability workshop and specification submitted to ETSI

[Munich, Dezember 2, 2009] Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) today announced the completion of the first HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) interoperability workshop. Representatives from over twenty different companies from across the value chain including broadcasters, software providers and CE device manufacturers attended the event to evaluate current HbbTV applications and implementations. The three day event took place at IRT in Munich, Germany.

Dr. Klaus Illgner-Fehns, Managing Director, Institut für Rundfunktechnik IRT, commented: “We’re delighted to have had such a strong response to the first HbbTV interoperability workshop. The number of companies involved this week demonstrates the momentum that we’ve witnessed since HbbTV was formally announced in August 2009. While we’ve already seen excellent implementations at IFA, IBC and MEDIENTAGE MÜNCHEN, the interoperability workshop gave further support to those involved in getting further HbbTV products and services to market.”

Live satellite feeds containing HbbTV signalling plus test feeds, generated by IRT, provided the framework for 10 companies to host their applications. Over 10 manufactures and software vendors performed interoperability testing against 17 different applications and over a dozen specifically written feature test cases. A further 7 test cases focused on application lifecycles issues.

Dr Illgner-Fehns added “This first HbbTV interoperability workshop has additional significance for the HbbTV activity, as it occurred at the same time as the group submitted the 1.1.1 specification draft to ETSI. This means two milestones for the HbbTV project in the same week.”

Note to Editors

ETSI Submission
ETSI, where IRT became an applicant member last week, produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, broadcast and internet technologies. Submitting a 1.1.1 draft to ETSI is an important milestone towards ratifying a specification as a formal standard. The ETSI draft of the HbbTV specification can be downloaded from the HbbTV website.

About HbbTV
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV or “HbbTV”, is a major new pan-European initiative aimed at harmonising the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment 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 standards and web technologies including OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C. HbbTV has a wide range of supporters from across the broadcaster and CE industries, details of which can be found at www.hbbtv.org where more details about HbbTV draft specifications can also be found.

Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH
With its head offices in Munich, the IRT supports broadcasting on a national and international scale with its spectrum of services. Its associates are the broadcasting companies ARD, ZDF, DRadio, ORF, and SRG/SSR. The IRT is also cooperating with numerous clients from the broadcasting, media, communications and information technology industries as well as various research institutions and academies. Since its foundation in 1956, the IRT has been committed to preserving broadcasting and accompanying the adjustment of the broadcasting idea to new market environments and requirements.

Contact and additional information

Publisher

Institut fuer Rundfunktechnik GmbH
Floriansmuehlstrasse 60 80939
Munich
Germany
Web: www.irt.de

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Thomas Schierbaum

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Carola Schmidle

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Fax: + 49 89 323 99 – 205
E-Mail: presse@irt.de