Digitaltveurope.com

The HbbTV Association, which promotes the open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, has named a new chair, vice-chair and steering group.

Vincent Grivet

Vincent Grivet, head of broadcast at TDF, has been elected as chair, replacing Klaus Illgner from IRT, who resigned for personal reasons earlier this year.

Jon Piesing from TP Vision has been re-elected as vice-chair and Xavier Redon from Cellnex Telecom will continue to serve as Treasurer.

Representatives of Panasonic, RAI and TDF have been newly elected to the steering group.

Over the upcoming two-year term, the HbbTV Steering Group will focus on further extending the consumer benefits of Hybrid broadcast broadband Television with the deployment of HbbTV 2.0. They will create means to support the wider adoption of HbbTV, the introduction of new HbbTV services like operator applications and help the HbbTV ecosystem adjust to new privacy regulations like GDPR and ePrivacy, according to the association.

“With over 44 million HbbTV devices deployed and hundreds of services on air, HbbTV is the largest interactive TV platform available for broadcasters and service providers to build new and attractive TV and OTT services,” said Grivet.

“HbbTV technology and organization are key to enable the broadcast/TV ecosystem to adapt to new consumer demands and market paradigms. Our new steering Group is further strengthened with the addition of industry leaders who have the experience, vision and determination to take HbbTV services to the next level. HbbTV will continue to play its role as the place where manufacturers and broadcasters work together (along with other standards organizations, regulatory organizations and national TV associations) to prepare and enable the future of TV.”