Harmony Looms in Release of U.K. Standards on Internet-Connected TV
LONDON -- Two new interlocking standards that aim to bring some harmony to the fragmented world of Internet-connected TV were among the outcomes of the U.K. Digital TV Group’s annual summit last week. Both are due for publication in the U.K. this spring, and then will be offered for standardization worldwide.
The first potential breakthrough comes April 14 from YouView, which has proposed an open, Internet-connected TV platform. It plans the final core specification for devices that seamlessly combine subscription-free DTV service with Internet connections for “catch-up” time-shifting TV, on-demand services and interactive applications. Formerly known as Project Canvas, the YouView consortium includes the BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, TalkTalk, Arqiva and Five.
The second possible breakthrough will have been published by the DTG by April 14. It’s Version 7 of the D-Book, which governs all DTV in the U.K. Version 7 adds Internet connectivity to Version 6, which in March 2009 introduced the DVB-T2 standard for HDTV. “The D-Book will set a standard for connected TV products and services in the U.K.,” DTG Chairman David Docherty told the summit. “We will then work for global adoption."
"A successful launch” of Internet-connected TV “is worth the wait,” YouView CEO Richard Halton said at the summit. He was referring to YouView’s recent decision to delay the commercial start of the YouView platform to 2012. “The YouView specification will cross-reference to the D-Book,” Halton said. “Our ambition is to make our document as thin as possible. The D-Book is very precise. We are aligning the YouView device specification with the D-Book. Our specification is our view on how to build a D-Book 7 device.”
The D-Book is available only to DTG members, though YouView will publish its specification freely on its website, Halton said. “The YouView platform will be open to all,” he said. “Any ISP connection can be used. Any provider can deliver a VOD service. Any manufacturer can make the device. We are a genuinely not-for-profit organization with no interest in data collection or targeted advertising.” YouView’s user interface will have a backward-reading electronic program guide and a DVR “to let viewers use tonight’s TV to find yesterday’s TV,” he said.
As for whether YouView will embrace the Ultraviolet standard for digital locker storage of purchased content, currently being finalized by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, Halton said: “Ultraviolet embraces five DRM systems. One of them is Marlin, which is the system YouView uses. So UV can sit on top of YouView. And YouView could endorse UV. We are looking at this very closely."
Halton conceded that connecting TV devices to the Internet raises the risk of virus infections. “Growing the connected space creates more paths for intrusion,” he said. “We have just seen the first Android App virus. We at YouView are trying to understand the risks and how to cope, for instance by burying keys. It needs the collaboration of networks and manufacturers, a new federated model. No one should pretend anything is foolproof."
DTG’s summit organizers gamely invited one skeptic on Web-connected TV to speak at the event: Patrick Barwise, marketing professor at the London Business School. “It’s complete nonsense to say that in five years’ time we will no longer have [live] TV channels,” he said. “Live TV still accounts for 92 percent of viewing in all homes and 80 percent of viewing in converged homes.” Of the remaining 20 percent, most is DVR-based viewing, he said. “Short-form VOD will grow, but mainstream on-demand viewing is just not going to happen,” Barwise said. “The Internet is not a cheap or reliable way of distributing TV. It costs 10 times as much as broadcast. People watch TV to take their minds off what they aren’t doing, and listen to radio to take their minds off what they are doing.”