Italian broadcasters RAI and Mediaset took part at the 6th Annual HbbTV Symposium in Rome, during which the latest novelties in interactive TV and applications for connected TVs were presented.

The new HbbTV2 standard, based on HTML 5, will progressively substitute MHP, making TV watching more interactive, customisable and inclusive, while organically linking broadband and broadcasting.

For the first time, RAI, through its Centre for Research and Technological Innovation (CRIT) and the Rai Digital unit, presented new experimental services produced internally, able to improve the usability of content on demand.

These include so-called “Slow TV” or “Stretch TV”, which will allow users to adjust the speed of audio and video images in order to meet the most diverse accessibility needs.  Older people have repeatedly complained that they find it difficult to understand spoken texts, especially news, due to the speed they are being read. In addition, the reduction of speed for both images and speech can also be of great help to those who want to learn or improve their Italian.

Commercial rival Mediaset demonstrated its HbbTV2 suite consisting of the TgCom24, Sport Mediaset and Meteo.it apps. It also announced the launch of the Mediaset Enabler 2.0 hybrid and interactive platform in June 2018.

For its part, Italian DTT platform Tivu revealed plans to launch a companion screen HbbTV service on mobile devices in the first quarter of 2018.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, HbbTV