Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks were the latest cable operators to join the Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR), which is a coalition promoting the use of a unique, global identifier of entertainment assets, including films and television episodes.
The EIDR coalition is organized as an industry non-profit and comprises stakeholders from content owners, video post-production houses, content distributors, retailers, entertainment services and technology provider companies.
Cable MSOs and CableLabs are engaged in integrating the registry and promoting EIDR through interop events and public demonstrations.
Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks grow the penetration of EIDR membership among North American cable MSOs to more than 80 percent of the cable footprint by joining Charter, Comcast, Cox and Shaw.
“EIDR is a timely component and key enabler of our new products and services, including TV Everywhere solutions, and generally enables streamlining our content workflows,” said Mike Hayashi, executive vice president of advanced engineering for Time Warner Cable. “Integrating EIDR into our digital supply chain will drive efficiency as we deliver our services to a growing array of consumer devices,” said Nomi Bergman, president of Bright House Networks.
In other recent activity underscoring cable commitment to the EIDR effort, CableLabs has loaned executive Don Dulchinos to serve as executive director of the EIDR organization.
“Don’s participation began with the development of EIDR as a solution for program identification in the targeted advertising ecosystem,” said Phil McKinney, president and CEO of CableLabs. “EIDR also provides a key technical component for the TV Everywhere, multi-screen distribution environment that the cable industry is rapidly deploying,” he added.
CableLabs will provide further support for EIDR through an upcoming interoperability event in conjunction with Ad-ID. The interop will involve technology partner companies with expertise in EIDR registration, indexed third-party entertainment metadata, ad campaign data per CableLabs’ stewardship and fulfillment interface specs, ad management systems, and ad placement systems.
EIDR is a not-for-profit industry association that was founded by Movielabs, CableLabs, Comcast and Rovi to meet a need across the entertainment supply chain for universal identifiers for a broad array of audio visual objects. More information can be found online.
