A recent study found that Europeans spend on average 3.5 hours a day passively watching television. Interactive digital television, or iTV, allows viewers to do much more with their TVs. However, for it to become widely deployed, there needs to be an open standard allowing full interoperability.

The MHP-KDB project set out to help equipment manufacturers, and software and content developers adopt the best such standard, says Klaus Merkel, who directed the IST-funded project.

The Digital Video Broadcasting - Multimedia Home Platform (DVB-MHP) is an open middleware system that enables TV sets to receive and run interactive, Java-based applications, broadcast via satellite, cable, and terrestrial mode. It is also adapted to internet protocol TV.

"MHP will allow full interoperability of various equipment and applications. It's adoption is the crucial factor to allow progress in deployment of interactive digital TV in Europe," says Merkel.

"We wanted to help simplify and accelerate the technical take-up of MHP by making expertise and solutions available to newcomers, as well as to more experienced users," says Merkel. The project, which ended in March, created an online database containing code samples for programmers, tools for developing and testing applications, and technical explanations.

"There are more than 130 documents in all, free to access," says Merkel. "We provided best practices, such as how to optimise data application loading performance, and the most effective ways to draw graphics on the TV screen".

MHP was developed by the DVB Project, a consortium of over 270 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 35 countries. The developers used Java as MHP's backbone, because it is the technical state-of-the-art and widely used on the internet. Another important factor is that the Java's owner, Sun Microsystems, maintains fair licensing policies, says Merkel.

The MHP standard turns a TV into two-way media highway. For example, let's say you're watching a TV travel programme about an island. You'd see a little button pop up asking, "Are you interested in more information about this island?" With your remote control, you could answer, "Yes," and a sophisticated text window would open with information.

Says Merkel, "This is simplified navigation with a remote control and not meant to replace the internet. A Web portal might put one version on the internet, and another, simpler one, on iTV".

"Sky in the UK is probably the most successful iTV system in Europe today. But these closed systems pose interoperability problems. MHP is the only open standard," says Merkel. MHP has already been adopted in Italy, and to a lesser degree in Austria, Belgium and Germany.

The key problem still facing iTV is the need for a business model, says Merkel. "It's still a very immature market. Players will have to figure out how they can earn money from it." One way could be by connecting the TV via telephone line to the network, the so-called backchannel, to charge the customer for premium interactive services like ticket buying, hotel reservation, and shopping.

However, for now, the main players - TV, telephone and internet network companies -are busy with other concerns. "They still need rights to film and other content. They are working on triple-play (TV, telephone, internet) offers. So iTV is a little bit on hold," says Merkel. And MHP still must resolve some licensing questions. "The patent pool is not completely open yet".

But Merkel is confident, "Once iTV is established, it will be huge. People are watching TV anyhow. If a good commercial offers pop ups onscreen, people will go for them".



Posted by: Edwin    Source