Warsaw will play host to an important conference on HbbTV on July 4.
Readers of Broadband TV News will be aware that only last month we held a business briefing on connected TV, organised jointly with Level 3, in the Polish capital. It was there that we became aware for the first time of the major progress that is currently being made by the company 4vod, along with broadcasters such as TVP, to introduce hybrid television into Poland.
We have since been offered, and accepted, the opportunity to act as a patron to the upcoming conference, entitled HbbTV Summit Poland.
Prior to this year, there had been little if any mention of HbbTV in Central and Eastern Europe aside from perhaps in the Czech Republic, where the public broadcaster Ceske Televize (CT) had discussed plans to introduce a HbbTV app for Teletext HD, distributed via satellite, this spring. CT has since gone on to launch the Teletext app, along with ones for Euro 2012 and the World Ice Hockey Championship, and become a key player in the introduction of HbbTV services in the region.
In Poland, on the other hand, the first HbbTV tests got under way as recently as this March, with the channel TVN HD distributed via DVB-T from the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. Since then, we have seen TVP launch an HbbTV app for Euro 2012 that was used by an encouraging number of 4,200 viewers on the first day. It also announced plans to launch further HbbTV apps in the near future.
Furthermore, as recently as this week, Samsung has revealed that it is currently undertaking HbbTV tests in Warsaw and will be meeting shortly with TVP.
Besides discussing these beginnings of HbbTV in Poland, the conference on July 4 will include important presentations from the HbbTV Consortium and ProSieben/Sat 1, as well as a number of manufacturers. It will also feature panel discussions entitled HbbTV versus smart TV and The future of hybrid television in Poland.
HbbTV Summit Poland will be covered in detail by Broadband TV News, which is also following developments elsewhere in the CEE region with interest.
