S&T Leads initiative to bring internet power to interactive TV

For Immediate Release

London, UK – 19 March 2009: Strategy & Technology, one of the UK’s leading providers of interactive systems for DTTplatforms, 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.

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.

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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

Press contact:                                    

Richard Dean
Manor Marketing
Tel: + 44 (0)7986 546 768
richard@manormarketing.tv

Company contact:

David Cutts
Strategy & Technology
Tel: + 44 (0)207 183 1511
david.cutts@s-and-t.com