A group of MSOs and technology providers Tuesday announced the formation of the Java Community Process Expert Group.
The group’s aim is to develop a new Java-technology-based digital-television application-program-interface standard, “OnRamp to OCAP,” targeted at legacy, resource-constrained set-tops.
Members include Cable Television Laboratories Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cox Communications Inc., GoldPocket Interactive, Liberate Technologies, Motorola Inc., Philips Consumer Electronics, Sun Microsystems Inc., Time Warner Cable and Vidiom Systems Corp.
“We are very excited that the cable industry is continuing to work together toward its goal of developing an industry standard for the development of interactive programming," The Weather Channel vice president of interactive TV and video-on-demand Lisa Shankle said in a prepared statement. “This will help to save time and development cost, enabling us to launch robust interactive services quickly.”
Added Cox senior VP and chief technology officer Chris Bowick: “OnRamp will make the interactive-TV environment available on millions of legacy set-top boxes, allowing our industry to compete with interactive-TV services deployed by [direct-broadcast satellite].”
