CES 2012: Industry Pros Demand Standards for Next-Generation Internet TVs

A group of top technology professionals involved with Internet TV, including VPs of Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Western Digital, warned Wednesday that consumer acceptance will falter unless industry standards are adopted.

With virtually half all new TVs equipped for Internet transmission, the lack of standards presents technical problems that need to be solved quickly, they said at a panel on the Future of TV at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"90 percent of all Internet traffic will be video soon," warned George Tupy, a senior Cisco TV executive. Because the industry does not know exactly what to provide, via cable service, satellite or IP transmission, technical confusion is causing problems about where it will be controlled: the home or the network.

Edgar Villaponda, Senior VP of Active Video Network, warned "too many devices are in the field and they are fragmented. We need to determine an industry standard now."

Yahoo TV chief Ron Jacoby said his Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has been gaining ground quickly with Yahoo TV, which received an Emmy Award for some of its pioneering work on the Internet. He said the service has signed new deals with actor Tom Hanks as well as for transmission of shows from Walt Disney Co. and its ESPN unit, as well as Fox's Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo TV has been installed into 100 models of new TVs for 2012 shipment, Jacoby said. But he also said the electronics and content providers need to establish technical standards before there is confusion over what works on on-air, cable, satellite and plain Internet protocol TV.

David Grubb, senior Internet TV specialist for Motorola Mobility, which has agreed to be acquired by Google, said his company, a maker of set-top boxes, would benefit from standards. "It's not clear now where we control content: in the home or in the cloud," he said.