In August 2009 a major new pan-European industry initiative was launched. Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV or ”HbbTV” as it is more commonly referred to, harmonises the broadcast and broadband delivery of news, information and entertainment to the end consumer through TVs and set-top boxes.
The cross industry consortium consists of broadcasters, satellite operators, software providers and hardware manufacturers. ANT is at the forefront of the HbbTV initiative, which combines the richness of broadcast and broadband while providing an alternative to proprietary technologies by delivering an open platform for broadcasters to deliver value added on-demand services.
The consortium includes strong support from broadcasters Canal+, France Televisions, and TF1, German research institute Institut für Rundfunktechnik and satellite operator SES ASTRA.
HbbTV has been derived from existing standards and web technologies based on elements of OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C.
In September 2009 ANT announced the availablity of ANT Galio HbbTV Platform. The new release builds on the already deployed ANT Galio Platform and is a complete go-to-market solution providing full support for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) services.
The ANT Galio™ HbbTV Platform provides a robust, flexible and dynamic platform on which both service providers and device manufacturers can develop and deploy HbbTV related applications for hybrid broadcast TV services to the home.
Full details of ANT Galio HbbTV Platform can be found here.
