Group focuses on specs, best practices for video streaming

The Streaming Video Alliance (SVA), a group formed in late 2014 to establish specs and best practices for video streaming, has added some heft to the cause with the addition of Google.

Google, a streaming giant via way of YouTube and its relatively new YouTube TV service, was named as a new member this week during the SVA’s fourth annual meeting in New York hosted by Viacom. Of recent note, Google has also gotten behind AV1, a new royalty-free, next-gen codec that is initially focused on OTT video apps and services.

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Also new to SVA is Videastream. Other members include Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Arris, Bamtech Media, Beamr, Charter Communications, CenturyLink, Comcast, Conviva, Liberty Global, NBCU, NeuLion, Sky, Verizon, Viacom and Nokia, among others. A big name still absent from SVA’s list is Netflix.

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This week’s SVA meeting included a keynote by Alec Hendry, senior director of technology convergence at Viacom and Dino Covelli, director of emerging streaming technology at Viacom. The agenda also featured the HEVC Licensing Symposium, including players from the HEVC’s various patent pools, and a session focused on the challenges of massive live, synchronized events from Wowza’s Chris Michaels.