Tektronix and CableLabs® Co-hosted International Telecommunications Union Discussion on Standards for Cable Television

Tektronix, Inc. and CableLabs® co-hosted a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Study Group 9, which discussed standards dealing with cable and broadcast television distribution over traditional telecommunication networks. The meeting was held from November 6 to November 10, 2000 at the Tektronix Beaverton, Oregon campus.

The Beaverton meeting benefited from a new fast-track approval process for recommendations that had been instituted by the ITU. Some of the study group actions affecting the cable television industry were:

DOSCIS™ 1.1. Recommendation J.112-Transmission Systems for Interactive Television Services was amended significantly to incorporate interoperability specifications that meet North American and European responses to market requirements.

OpenCable™ Recommendation J.api for a worldwide common core application environment for digital interactive television services was expanded. These additions more completely define the high-level software architecture for a harmonized set of interactive content formats and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are capable of providing the variety of applications required by advanced interactive television services.

PacketCable™. Twelve new recommendations, which provide a coordinated set specifying a set architecture and integrated protocol interfaces, were advanced. This set of protocols and architecture operate as a system and will allow the efficient delivery of time-critical interactive services over cable networks using Internet protocols.

Among additional topics discussed were video quality measurements, network distribution services, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for advanced cable TV distribution.

"Since standards are responsible for the future direction of an industry, the creation of international video standards is very important," said Bob Agnes, vice president, Video Business Unit, Tektronix, Inc. "As a market leader of video test and measurement, Tektronix leads and actively serves on a variety of standards committees worldwide. This meeting was an opportunity to provide input on the future direction of television as video professionals face the exciting challenges which lie ahead."

"Co-hosting the ITU meeting in the United States with Tektronix was a great honor for us," said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green, the newly elected chairman of Study Group 9.