OpenTV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | NASDAQ: OPTV |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, USA |
| Industry | Interactive television |
| Products | Television operating systems and Middleware |
| Revenue | $110 million (USD) in 2007 |
| Employees | App. 500 |
| Website | www.OpenTV.com |
OpenTV (NASDAQ: OPTV) is an interactive television company founded in 1994. Its main business is the provision of middleware for the cable and satellite markets. Majority voting rights (Class B shares) are held by Kudelski Group SA, whom has also made a recent bid for all outstanding Class A shares[1].
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[edit] OpenTV Core Middleware
OpenTV's flagship product is called Core, which represents a widely deployed digital television middleware layer. The OpenTV Core software technology is a rich API-set built to enable ITV application development independent of hardware. In the last several years, PVR support and USB support have been added to this software. Applications are written in C with OpenTV-proprietary libraries, referred to simply as the "OpenTV SDK"; however, Adobe Flash is currently being ported as an alternative AEE.
OpenTV's value-proposition is most intelligible to new and emerging market cable/satellite providers; the software's richness and maturity allows new partners to deploy more quickly and effectively, and provide more advanced feature-sets, than they would on their own.
The OpenTV Core Middleware product has been deployed on over 121 million set-top boxes worldwide to date[2].
[edit] OpenTV AEE
As stated before, OpenTV applications are written in a superset of C. The OpenTV API allows for the utilization of broadcast network features independent of the physical hardware provided, allowing for more generic deployments.
[edit] Free Software Foundation lawsuit against OpenTV
In 2002, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) engaged in a GPL enforcement action against OpenTV. According to Forbes, OpenTV ended up paying the FSF $65,000. But OpenTV also reportedly complied by making available the requested code, so the purpose of the payment is unclear. The FSF's stated mission is not to demand money damages for GPL violations.[3]
[edit] OpenTV Advertising
OpenTV supports interactive advertising. Through their Eclipse Plus product they provide a market-targeting advertisement solution; one major customer is Comcast. As per proper campaign management, the OpenTV solution provides a system for local ad insertion and/or targeting at the headend or on the set-top box.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
- Interactive television
- C programming language
- Personal Video Recorder
- High Definition
- IPTV
- Video On Demand
- Free Software Foundation
[edit] References
- ^ OpenTV's Special Committee Appoints Financial and Legal Advisors[1]
- ^ OpenTV's Special Committee Appoints Financial and Legal Advisors[2]
- ^ Linux News: Best of ECT News: The Legend of Linksys
