Chinese TV brand Changhong who is a major supplier of TVs to Harvey Norman, has moved to form a TV industry alliance claiming that within three years cloud computing will be at the heart of their TV offering.Also forming a TV alliance is TPV Technology and LG Electronics, who are also seeking out additional partners for a  smart TV alliances.

DigiTimes claims these alliances are becoming prevalent throughout Asia as TV companies realise that software and cloud computing are becoming key to their future.

Several sources have said Smart TV  alliances are being formed because of the pending launch of an Apple TV which industry executives believe will set a new standard for software on a TV and content delivery.

Due to Apple’s influence in the market, the sources fear it will further dominate the smart TV market, which is estimated to reach a 40% penetration rate by 2014.

The alliance-forming TV makers are researching and developing smart TV concepts that will have similar functions as Samsung Electronics’ but will still need a lot of time before models start hitting stores, added the sources.