ETSI publishes latest hybrid TV standard
May 7, 2010
IMPALA, the International MHEG Promotion Alliance, announces that ETSI – the European Telecommunications Standards Institute – has published the latest version of the public standard interactive TV middleware as a formal European standard.
Version 2.1.1 of ETSI standard 202 184 – to give it its official title – contains a raft of very significant updates to the original ETSI MHEG specification from 2004, representing the most important increase in the technology's capabilities since its inception. These include support for the IP-based MHEG Interaction Channel, which enables hybrid broadcast broadband receiver operation via an IP connection – already being used by Freesat in the UK for catch-up TV services – and full support for HD graphics with increased colour depth and screen resolutions.
The latest version of MHEG was submitted to ETSI in late September and has now been fully ratified. David Cutts, MD of S&T, a Founder Member of IMPALA, says, “The publication of the new version of MHEG by ETSI is a significant milestone for the world's most popular open standard interactive TV middleware. These developments are a step change in the capabilities of the globally deployed technology providing broadcasters with a cost-effective route into a new world of hybrid service provision and therefore revenue growth.”