Samsung Achieves CableLabs Certification for Two-Way Digital Television

Samsung Electronics has achieved CableLabs certification for an OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP)-enabled two-way interactive digital television set, following a recently concluded test wave held at CableLabs' facility in Louisville, Colorado. (Note: CableLabs is a research-and-development body, backed by the US cable industry. OCAP, which was developed by CableLabs, is the US cable industry's common middleware specification for enabling interactive TV applications to run on advanced digital set-tops and integrated DTV's. It is based on Java and closely related to the European Multimedia Home Platform standard.) The Samsung television set is the first such device to receive OCAP certification, and news of its certification was greeted enthusiastically by senior cable industry and CableLabs executives--at least judging by the array of prepared statements included in the press release CableLabs issued to announce it:

"Samsung is the first consumer electronics manufacturer to build a two-way integrated digital television," CableLabs president and CEO, Dr. Richard Green, said in his statement. "This is quite a feat considering the complexity of these new devices. As this technology is rapidly progressing, Samsung has agreed to continue to work with Cablelabs to ensure interoperability with future OCAP headend providers."

"This is a significant accomplishment" Glenn Britt, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable and chair of the CableLabs board of directors, said in his statement. "The Samsung digital television is a very innovative retail device that can connect directly to the cable system, and receive current advanced and premium cable services, as well as future interactive applications to come. By implementing the OpenCable platform, a common nationwide platform for delivering interactive cable applications is enabled. This is a truly historic point for our industry and we couldn't have arrived at it without the strong support of forward-thinking consumer electronics companies like Samsung."

"With Samsung and other consumer electronics manufacturers, cable continues to lead the entertainment industry into its digital era," Comcast chairman and CEO, Brian Roberts, said in his statement. "We are a significant step closer to having advanced devices capable of receiving and displaying advanced cable services such as program guides and video-on-demand without requiring other boxes. Just as we stood a few years ago with modems, we are poised to offer consumers more advanced services than ever."

Samsung licensed technology from CableLabs last fall, in order to implement OCAP middleware on its ITV-enabled digital televisions and set-top boxes. Other companies that have obtained licenses to build OCAP-enabled devices include LG Electronics, Panasonic and Digeo.

Click http://www.itvt.com to subscribe to our free email newsletter, which contains all the news stories you see on this Web site, and additional breaking news and scoops, in-depth features, interviews, and other exclusive content you will not read anywhere else.