Members of the MHP patent pool have said they are removing the requirement for free-to-air broadcasters to pay licence fees on the interactive technology.
The decision was made public by the DVB Project, which has received a letter from Via Licensing president Jean-Michel Bourdon informing the Geneva-based organisation of their decision.
In its latest public ratecard, scheduled to take effect in January 2009, Via Licensing levies an administration fee of $15,000 per licensee and annual fees on a sliding scale between $6,000 and $100,000 according to the number of receivers deployed in a market.
The fees levied by Via Licensing have been the source of much consternation within the DVB Project since they were first revealed three years ago. It is perceived to be one of the reasons why the MHP middleware has failed to make an impact against rival proprietary systems.
