Zodiac Interactive and ActiveVideo Networks have integrated their respective technologies in order to help cable operators that are deploying tru2way deliver Web-based TV to their subscribers.
Under terms of the deal, Zodiac’s PowerUp framework software for tru2way and PowerTV will include an ActiveVideo client, which will simplify the ability of operators to deploy ActiveVideo services on their tru2way or PowerTV set-top boxes.
The companies said they also plan to work together to develop other applications for the Zodiac ActiveVideo client that will facilitate interoperability and transparency across all TV services, such as linear, video-on-demand (VOD), Enhanced Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), advanced advertising, etc.
The ActiveVideo Distribution Network combines standard Web technologies for authoring and distribution with network processing to create a single, personalized, interactive MPEG stream for delivery to an individual subscriber’s digital set-top box or Web-connected consumer electronics device. The ActiveVideo client enables viewer navigation of onscreen MPEG content via remote-control keyclicks; each keyclick is sent upstream to server-based processors that modify the stream in real time.
PowerUp is Zodiac’s tru2way framework, and it includes a common platform of open applications program interfaces (APIs) and libraries that allow for a broad range of applications to be developed and work together across multiple tru2way components.
Cable operators are in the process of figuring out how they can deliver more of their TV programming over the Internet. Time Warner Cable and Comcast hope to deploy their “TV Everywhere” concept to their paid subscribers later this year
The cable operators that have announced support for the tru2way platform on their networks are Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks, together representing more than 80 percent of all cable subscribers and 105 million homes passed.
