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S&T Leads Initiative to Bring
Internet Power to Interactive TV
Strategy & Technology
March 19, 2009
London, UK -- Strategy & Technology, one of the UK’s leading
providers of interactive systems for DTT platforms, has been
instrumental in developing a new technical specification to combine
the power of the internet with interactive TV.
The sixth edition of the Digital TV Group’s D-Book, the detailed
interoperability specification for digital terrestrial television in
the UK published in early March, will enable next-generation
Freeview boxes to provide ‘Hybrid TV’ services including interactive
streamed television via a broadband connection. |
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The specification will also allow
four channels of high definition content to be delivered over the
new DVB-T2 transmission format, to start broadcasting this autumn,
with products coming into the market in early 2010. High definition
DTT will be rolled out nationwide until the completion of UK TV
digital switchover in 2012.
“This development provides a new connection giving viewers a
seamless experience when using interactive services sourced both
from the internet and broadcast TV,” says David Cutts, Managing
Director of Strategy & Technology, who chaired the group developing
the specification.
“We don’t say anything in the specification about how the IP
(internet protocol) packets are sent, and are not attempting to add
web services on a TV. Instead we are facilitating additional
internet-assisted TV services, using bandwidth supplied by ISPs to
meet viewers’ needs as capacity expands to meet demand.”
The Hybrid TV system is an extension of the successful interactive
system based on the MHEG-5 standard included in all Freeview and
Freesat receivers. As well as interactive applications over the air,
connected users will be able to download applications and content
from suitable online services.
These could include extensions to on-air programmes such as online
voting, quizzes, news and information, plus on-demand TV services
such as iPlayer or 4oD if the viewer’s ISP provides sufficient
bandwidth. Using a standard broadband link, the receiver connects to
TV applications and content using Internet communications and
presents them using technology from the TV world.
S&T will provide a number of products and services to support the
new specification, including Redkey2™, its leading MHEG software
that is sold to CE manufacturers for inclusion in set top boxes and
TVs; MHEGPresenter, a flexible set of applications that provides
interactive TV using the broadcast channel and ‘red button’
Interaction Channel delivery; and MHEGServer, for use on servers
connected to the Interaction Channel.
The DTG has published and maintained the D-Book, which is written in
collaboration with experts drawn from the DTG's membership of over
125 broadcasters, platform operators, manufacturers and other
stakeholders, for over a decade. The specification is now published
annually to keep pace with the UK's rapidly-evolving DTT platform.
“We hope that this technology, developed in co-operation with
broadcasters, network operators and equipment manufacturers, can
provide a simple base from which to develop a whole new range of
services for users on digital TV,” says Richard Lindsay-Davies,
Director General of the DTG. “The launch of next-generation services
such as HD and hybrid IPTV services on the Freeview platform is a
landmark in British broadcasting, and I am intensely proud of the
role the DTG and its members are playing,” he adds.
David Cutts will present a paper on the breakthrough entitled
‘Joining Broadcast and IP Together’ at next week’s IPTV World Forum
from 25-27 March at Olympia Grand Hall in London.
Scheduled for delivery on 25 March at 3.05pm, the paper describes
the essence of the successful MHEG-5 middleware deployed in Freeview
and Freesat systems, along with some background about applications
and international rollout.
Cutts will then describe how the
specification has been extended to seamlessly integrate interaction
over a broadband IP connection with the broadcast system to allow
connection to new services, transactions, and Online TV, and outline
current deployment plans.
About The Digital TV Group
The Digital TV Group (DTG) is the independent and platform neutral
industry association for digital television in the UK. Formed in the
mid 1990s to facilitate the introduction of digital terrestrial TV
in the UK, the group publishes and maintains the DTG 'D-Book', the
detailed technical standards reference for digital terrestrial TV in
the UK, and runs the industry's DTG Testing conformance centre, DTG
Testing. For further information visit www.dtg.org.uk
About Strategy & Technology
Strategy & Technology Ltd is a specialist company building and
implementing technology based on international standards in digital
TV. It is the leading independent company in the industry sector
that supports the MHEG interactive TV standard, and provides
complete interactive applications and systems for broadcasters and
manufacturers. S&T’s TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer systems are used for
the creation of MHP, MHEG and OCAP interactive TV transmissions, and
its RedKey™ MHEG engine is licensed to digital receiver and set top
box manufacturers worldwide. For further information visit
www.s-and-t.com |
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