ITV combines „lean-forward“ and „lean-back“ media
Television has long been considered a „lean-back“ medium, but this new technology will provide it with more „lean-forward“ features. Thanks to these new additional services, the emotional, impact-oriented components of moving pictures will be complemented by interesting and widely varied individualized content. And these services will have the additional attraction of crisp fonts, designs in all conceivable colors, high-resolution graphics and photos as well as the full possibilities offered by return channel interaction.
Great Britain as a forerunner in ITV
The development of digital television in Britain provides sound evidence that this new world of ITV products not only exists in the minds of developers and visionaries, but is also part of everyday TV for normal media consumers. Unlike the continent, Great Britain had already begun developing digital television technology in early 1990s, and therefore the British are a full decade ahead of the rest of Europe (even the rest of the world) in the development and use of additional multimedia digital TV services. The results are impressive, and despite all of the differences between British and continental television markets they allow us to draw conclusions about the general potential of digital TV and ITV: As of 2004, 50% of British households have access to digital TV and also regularly use additional ITV services. And these figures are rising fast.
MHP to enable uniform European ITV market
The television markets in the rest of Europe as well as parts of the US, South America and Asia have also risen to the challenge of ITV. Europe has chosen an especially bold and strategically sensible path: Unlike in many IT developments in the past, they have realized that market developments have especially good chances of success if they are based on common standards and the use of those standards is kept as inexpensive as possible for the industry and consumers. As early as the mid-1990s, a group of European broadcasters, software and hardware companies was established within the DVB Consortium with the mediation of the EU in order to develop a common ITV standard. Admittedly, the process did take a long time, but the standard is now reality: MHP (Multimedia Home Platform). The standard is now being met with widespread approval throughout Europe. This was not the case just over a year ago, shortly before the !TV4GRAZ planning stage began. In Finland, MHP products are offered on the real market in satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcasting. In Italy, all three nationwide television groups are offering numerous MHP services in their enthusiastic digitization of terrestrial television. Spain is planning to roll out MHP services in the near future, and all of the broadcasters in Germany have agreed to use the MHP standard. The first portals are even available via satellite. Almost every European country is preparing or already carrying out combined digital TV/MHP trials.
Austria as an MHP innovator
In Austria, the project partners decided to integrate comprehensive MHP services in the !TV4GRAZ project at a very early stage. Today we know that this was the right decision. With the support of RTR, numerous Austrian television providers – both public and private – developed at least one MHP application in the course of the pilot project in Graz. Such widely varied MHP experience can only be found in very few countries, especially among television broadcasters and application developers. The pages that follow are intended to give an overview of the specific MHP-based services developed in the course of the projec
