Cable Europe Labs, the technology consortium of Europe’s cable operators is to merge into its North American opposite number.
CableLabs has announced nine new members of the organisation from the European continent that will sit alongside Liberty Global, which controls UPC, Unitymedia and has significant interests in Telenet and Ziggo.
The nine other members are Com Hem (Sweden), Get (Norway), Kabel Deutschland (Germany), LIWEST (Austria), Ono (Spain), Tele Columbus (Germany), YouSee (Denmark), Ziggo (Netherlands), and ZON (Portugal).
“The transition of Cable Europe Labs activities to CableLabs opens doors for cable and technology stakeholders globally,” said Mike Fries, chief executive officer, Liberty Global. “Working together and sharing key learnings from individual markets will enable members and technology suppliers to create innovative solutions to meet the current and future needs of subscribers on a global scale.”
Added to new members in Asia and Latin America, CableLabs will now be responsible for over one hundred million cable subscribers around the world.
Phil McKinney, president and chief executive officer of CableLabs says it is critical that technology standards become aligned around the world.
“Collaborating globally on technology standards and strategies will allow CableLabs to accelerate development of truly innovative technologies, bringing them to market faster, more cost effectively and at scale.”
CableLabs was founded in 1988 from within the cable industry and is a non-profit organisation.
