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
