DOTSCREEN, Espial, Stingray Digital Group, The Weather Network and Perpetual Solutions / The Connected Home Academy

September 7, 2012
OIPF Logo
OIPF Logo

August 29th 2012, The Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) is pleased to welcome DOTSCREEN, Espial, Perpetual Solutions, Stingray Digital Group and The Weather Network / MeteoMedia as new members participating in the Forum’s on-going work to shape the future of global, mass-market Internet Connected TV.

DOTSCREEN edits interactive TV services for a global audience. Based in France they design and develop connected TV services and applications for Smartphones, tablets and decoders on behalf of large media companies including 20Minutes, Euronews, TV5Monde, France24, Eurosport, Numéricâble, Bouygues Télécom, Irdeto.

Pascal-Hippolyte Besson CEO of DOTSCREEN says "We are pleased to join the OIPF today. DOTSCREEN has developed more than 50 applications on Connected TV for partners such as Deezer, Al Jazeera, TV5Monde, France Television… so we know what the word 'fragmentation' means - Interoperability will be key for manufacturers, for content owners, for developers and for consumers! The work of the Open IPTV Forum is critical to making the apps business a global and scalable one. We look forward to participating with OIPF members to make the Connected TV App eco-system as successful as in the mobile world".

Espial, headquartered in Ottawa, is a leading supplier of digital TV and IPTV software and solutions to cable MSOs and telecommunications operators as well as consumer electronics manufacturers.

On joining the OIPF Jaison Dolvane, President and CEO of Espial explains “Espial’s Smart TV solutions streamline the delivery of IPTV services by providing support for a wide range of industry standards and easy interoperability with third-party technologies, leading to faster deployment of IPTV services and a more compelling user experience on any connected device.”

“In joining the Open IPTV Forum, we have the unique opportunity to work with other industry leaders to shape the future and proliferation of IPTV technology.”

Perpetual Solutions is an education company providing vendor-independent training on classic IPTV / OTT / DVB / MPEG / CDN architectures, protocols, engineering and standards to service providers, broadcasters and technology vendors. They are the organization who have created the Connected Home Academy, with clients in over 60 countries including many OIPF members; service providers like BT Vision, Virgin Media, BskyB, BBC and technology vendors such as Cisco, Ericsson, Samsung & Panasonic.

Sam Hurrell, IPTV Learning Program Director says “We aim to work with the OIPF membership to enable a certified education program for the IPTV / OTT industry, delivering knowledge of OIPF specifications and related technology in both practical and theoretical contexts via the Connected Home Academy”.

“Organizations cannot fully implement or relate to industry standards until they understand them. The specifications work of the OIPF to date is an ideal base for us to build the right multi-level learning toolkit to allow companies to understand customer requirements, boost customer engagement, and work with technology partners across the industry in the most effective way.

Stingray Digital Group is an innovative, international content provider and broadcaster focused on delivering high quality music content, with offices in North America and Europe and partners worldwide in 48 countries.

“Stingray Digital is honoured to be included as a member of this important organization,” comments Mario Dubois, CTO and VP Technology of Stingray Digital. “As developers of interactive music services and applications for TV service providers and connected TVs, we recognize the importance of working together as an industry to define standards and address issues related to IPTV,” he adds.

The Weather Network and MétéoMédia are Canada’s leading provider of weather and weather-related information to consumers on TV. They have broadcasting facilities in Oakville, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec, and regional bureaus in the Atlantic Provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as web, mobile, tablet and desktop applications. The Weather Network and MétéoMédia have a long track record of innovation and success with dedicated teams across the organization including software developers and Canada’s largest group of private sector meteorologists. The Weather Network and MétéoMédia now provide successful IPTV services to all major Telcos in Canada, such as Bell, Telus, SaskTel, Bell Aliant and MTS Allstream. The Weather Network and MétéoMédia are also the aggregator and disseminator for all public alerts in Canada having signed agreements with Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments.

Luc Perreault, Vice President, Affiliate & Government Relations commented “The Weather Network and MétéoMédia are innovators across all platforms and we’re looking forward to sharing in the collective knowledge that being a member of OIPF provides,” He added “We’re excited to contribute to the development of a practical set of standards for content delivery and look forward to sharing our own market and technological intelligence to help grow the platform in Canada and around the world.”

Dr Nilo Mitra, OIPF President, announced the new members to the Forum and comments “These latest new members signify growing interest from content providers and application developers as we go to market with deployment of our specifications, and shows that the industry recognizes the common application platform for connected TVs established by the OIPF browser specification”.

These five new members join over 50 leading IPTV industry companies currently contributing to the work of the OIPF, including JT Global (Jersey Telecom), STC (Saudi Telecom) and one of the world's largest Set Top Box Vendors, Humax, who were previously approved as new members in June 2012.

As well as larger businesses and long established companies, the OIPF has been successful in attracting smaller business throughout 2012, with other new members including 3 Screen Solutions, Broadpeak, Digisoft.tv, and Zenterio. This ensures that the needs and market requirements of all players in the value chain are reflected in the work of the Forum.

Large, small and medium size companies can propose themselves for OIPF membership today by contacting the Secretariat ([email protected]) to initiate the membership process. A maximum 80% fee discount is offered to businesses with revenue under €10m joining now.