Sky, Google, Rai join HbbTV Association

A number of high-profile companies have joined the HbbTV Association in the past year, including Google, Sky and Italian public broadcaster Rai.

Other new member include Greek public broadcaster ERT, Italian technology provider Kineton, and Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Skyworth, the association announced.

“We are excited about these high-profile companies joining HbbTV Association,” said Vincent Grivet, who is chair of the HbbTV Association as well as vice-president of broadcast development at TDF.

“The continuing strong interest by major market players in our open specifications confirms our approach towards establishing HbbTV as a universal standard for hybrid broadcast and broadband services across all screens.”

The HbbTV Association is a global initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes.

The HbbTV standard has been adopted in 35 countries around the world and the organisation claims that more than 300 applications on more than 44 million consumer devices use its specifications to add features such as interactive services, OTT offers or targeted advertising to linear TV channels.