LOUISVILLE, Colo. – Samsung Electronics has achieved certification status for an OCAP-enabled interactive digital television set in a recently concluded test wave held at CableLabs.
“This is a significant accomplishment. The Samsung digital television (DTV) 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,” said Glenn A. Britt, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable and chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors.
“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,” Britt added.
“We are thrilled to achieve CableLabs Certified status, and we remain committed to commercializing interactive digital cable-ready TVs and set-top boxes (STBs) to accelerate the rollout of OCAP across the North American Cable industry,” said Gee Sung Choi, president and CEO, Digital Media Business at Samsung Electronics, Co. Ltd.
“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 (VOD) without requiring other boxes,” added Comcast chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts. “Just as we stood a few years ago with modems, we are poised to offer consumers more advanced services than ever.”
“Samsung is the first consumer electronics manufacturer to build a two-way integrated digital television. This is quite a feat considering the complexity of these new devices,” said CableLabs president and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green. “As this technology is rapidly progressing, Samsung has agreed to continue to work with CableLabs to ensure interoperability with future OCAP headend providers,” he added.
Samsung licensed technology from CableLabs last fall to implement the required OCAP middleware on its interactive DTVs and STBs. Other companies licensed to build OCAP-enabled devices include LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Digeo.
The agreements, available to any interested consumer electronics manufacturer, grant certain intellectual property rights required for building and testing OCAP-enabled retail devices in compliance with the CableLabs OpenCable specifications.
