The work of the Digital TV Group is not in competition with HbbTV, the DTG’s chief technology officer Simon Gauntlett has told a Westminster eForum event in London.
Gauntlett stressed the UK trade body was not trying to create a competitor to the Franco-German project that is finding favour with a number of other European territories, pointing out that the creation of HBBtv was in part to provide an equivalent to the UK’s established Red Button services.
“We’ve brought standards to the UK and were making modifications to them. We have then sent them back into Europe,” he said “What we’re doing is trying to get the industry together to ensure it operates together to get a good decision.” He anticipated that the DTG’s work would be included as part of future releases of HBBtv.
Gauntlett explained that YouView was taking the DTG’s set of standards and then enhancing them with its own technology.
Giving specific examples of the DTG’s work, Gauntlett said it was necessary for any UK deployment to work with the existing MHEG standard that had been used for Red Button functionality for over ten years. Multiple rights management had also been included in the specifications fed back into Europe.
