Espial Executive Appointed to HbbTV Steering Group

OTTAWA, May 13, 2014 /CNW/ - Espial, a leader in on-demand TV software and solutions, today announced that Steve Morris, systems architect, has been named as a member of the HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) steering group and will chair the association's Spec Group Terminals Task Force. The HbbTV Association is 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.

"HbbTV is a global approach to TV innovation with a solid footprint in Europe and interest growing steadily around the world," said Klaus Illgner, HbbTV Chairman. "As a founding member, Steve has been an active contributor and evangelizer of the HbbTV specifications since the beginning. We look forward to benefitting from his leadership and helping us to expand the adoption of HbbTV into other parts of the world."

Steve Morris is 20 year veteran in the digital TV industry and a founding member of HbbTV. He has been a major contributor and spec editor for digital TV standards around the world and is co-author of the book, Interactive TV Standards: A Guide to MHP, OCAP, and JavaTV.  Steve currently serves as systems architect at Espial, where he is responsible for defining the software architecture and roadmap for user experience products and leading the company's standardization activities. He specializes in working with the following standards-based technologies: HbbTV, HTML5, OIPF, Digital TV, MHP, MPEG, DVB, ATSC, IPTV, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

HbbTV is an industry standard that provides an open and business neutral technology platform that seamlessly combines TV services delivered via broadcast with services delivered over broadband and also enables access to Internet-only services for consumers using connected TVs and set-top boxes. The standard is deployed in various European countries and a large majority of all connected TV sets sold in Western Europe implements the HbbTV standard.

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About Espial (www.espial.com)
Espial is a leading supplier of digital TV and IPTV software and solutions to cable MSOs and telecommunications operators as well as consumer electronics manufacturers. Espial's middleware, video-on-demand, and browser products power a diverse range of pay-TV and Internet TV business models. Over 35 million licenses of its patented software are in use across the world. Espial is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada and has offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Visit www.espial.com or contact via phone at [phone].

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

Media Contact:
Stacy Mitchell
JLM Partners for Espial
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