Select leading pay-TV operators, content providers and equipment vendors from around the world have combined forces to form the Streaming Video Alliance (SVA) – a new industry forum.
The move reflects the common vision shared by the participants with regard to the future of online video services. The group seeks to formulate industry-wide standards for high-scale Internet video services and improve productive efficiency for all providers involved in the process.
The Streaming Video Group will try to establish deeper ecosystem collaboration, encouragement of an open infrastructure and functionality of network and cloud based streaming and caching to foster interoperability for streaming videos. The group also aims to set benchmarks for measuring and optimizing streaming video quality. Such standardizations will help ensure that customers enjoy the best video experience.
The SVA’s 17 founding members list includes a handful of major pay-TV operators, such as Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) and Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR) in the US; Liberty Global plc (LBTYA) and Telecom Italia S.p.A. in Europe; KT Corp. in Asia and Telstra in Australia. The lineup also includes key online content providers such as Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Fox Networks Group, Limelight, Qwilt, Ustream, Wowza, Yahoo and Epix, as well as leading industry players such as Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Level 3 Communications, Inc. (LVLT).
It has been reported by some of the founding members of SVA that the industry group may eventually expand its coverage to matters such as encoding and 4K video streaming on the web, following it up with the best practices from providers and vendors. Furthermore, more vendors are expected to join this forum by early next year.
Meanwhile, the emergence of the SVA coincides with the issue of net neutrality – an open-Internet atmosphere which will prohibit Internet Service Providers (ISPs), especially telecom and cable TV operators, from discriminating against applications – that has created considerable turmoil in the ISP industry. President Obama has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify high-speed broadband (Internet) as a public utility under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act instead of treating it under section 706 of the 1996 Telecom Act. All ISPs, along with several cable and telecommunications industry bodies, have vehemently opposed this action.
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