21 December 2009, Cambridge – Humax and ANT have partnered to deliver the first Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) set-top boxes to market.  Humax, one of the world’s largest set-top box manufacturers, selected the ANT Galio HbbTV Platform for its new iCord HD+ set-top box, which began shipping to German retail outlets in December 2009 to become the first HbbTV set-top box to be deployed.  The iCord HD+ allows consumers to access hybrid services including ARD Mediathek, Tagesschau, ARTE, internet radio, Maxdome and Wikipedia via the set-top box. 

The HbbTV initiative was announced in August 2009 as a new pan-European activity to combine the richness of broadcast and broadband content through connected TVs and set-top boxes.  Led by a cross industry consortium including software providers, hardware manufacturers, broadcasters and satellite operators its aim is to enhance TV offerings with interactive hybrid services such as Video on demand, catch up TV, interactive advertising, personalisation, games and social networking.  The availability of Humax’s iCord HD+ set-top box marks a significant step forward for the initiative.

Jeff Kim, Managing Director at Humax Germany said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with ANT.  We are constantly looking to deliver engaging new services for customers and the ANT Galio HbbTV Platform allowed us to provide a variety of exciting new hybrid services to market before any other provider. We are particularly excited by the number of consumers that have already accessed our new portal service.  The sheer volume demonstrates how ready the market is for these interactive services.”

Richard Baker, EVP of Sales and Marketing at ANT, said, “Humax’s ability to roll out its HbbTV set-top box so quickly is testament not only to Humax’s engineering excellence but also to the readiness of the market for hybrid services . Our continued partnership with Humax has enabled us to help them deliver the first HbbTV offering to market.”

ANT developed the ANT Galio HbbTV Platform, a complete go-to-market solution to provide full support for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) services.