RDK Management releases RDK6 for video set-tops

Ahead of its 2023 RDK Summit in Amsterdam, RDK Management has unveiled RDK6 – the newest version of the open-source software bundle designed to underpin video customer-premise equipment for pay TV operators worldwide.

RDK6 is designed to further streamline the development and deployment of video functionality and apps across IP and hybrid QAM/DVB set-top boxes and will be available in Q4 2023, according to the organisation.

To date, RDK has been deployed on more than 100 million devices from service providers around the globe.

Jason Briggs

There are more than 600 technology companies within the RDK community that span leading SoC companies, CE manufacturers, software developers, system integrators, and service providers. Service providers with publicly announced RDK deployments include: Atlantic Broadband, BCN, Claro, Comcast, Cox, Deutsche Telekom, J:COM, KabelPlus, Liberty Global, Mediacom, Megacable, Melita, NOS, Nuuday, Orange, Rogers, SFR (part of Altice Europe), Shaw, Sky, Stofa, Telcom Argentina, Toya, Vectra, Vidéotron, Vodafone, VOO, VTR, WOW and Ziggo.

“RDK6 will provide pay TV operators with a hyper-efficient, versatile, low-memory utilization software stack to power their set-top boxes. RDK6 will help improve the efficiency of app integration and manage core video functionality across chipsets (SoCs) and device manufacturers (OEMs). We are also launching a new RDK certification test suite that will help RDK community members ensure consistency and performance across devices. We look forward to bringing our newest, open-source video software solution to the industry,” said Jason Briggs, president and general manager of RDK.

“RDK continues to be the underlying embedded software powering the customer devices offered as part of Liberty Global’s common Entertainment platform, Horizon, which is now in its fifth major iteration and is enjoyed by customers in all the markets in which Liberty Global operates. By using a common software platform, we have been able to focus more of our energy into addressing the specific needs of our customers for improved navigation, search and discovery, and adding more and more in demand content and applications, resulting in a step change in customer satisfaction in all of our markets. The next major evolution of RDK (RDK6), which Liberty Global is contributing to and will utilise, will enable easier and quicker onboarding of applications which is critical to the continued evolution of our platform,” said Gavin Sheldon, managing director, technology development at Liberty Global.