A new white label over-the-top TV service is launching using capacity on the UK DTT system. It is targeting the estimated two million connected devices purchased following the launch of Freeview HD late last year.
The interactive application created by technology firm Slipstream sits behind an MHEG-5 ‘barker channel’. If the viewer has a connected device they are presented with a menu enabling them to pull in selected content over the internet.
Already three placeholders, Vision, Connect and Stream, have launched on Mux D/COM 6 using capacity leased from Arqiva.
CTO Jonathan Marshall explained the functionality had already been tested on a number of the most popular receivers. “There isn’t a need for anything special that isn’t in D Book 6.2.1,” he said. The latest version of the D-Book includes the new MHEG-IC (Interaction Channel).
The standard definition delivery is seen as supplemental to the current means of entry onto the Freeview platform – leasing capacity from Arqiva or one of the other capacity holders such as ITV-owned SDN. “HD is even more difficult, given that there is no multicast delivery, so the cost of unicast means that it eventually crosses over with linear broadcast.”
Client Vision IPTV already operates a number of portals including Polska Plus TV, Hellenic TV and Freeband Business TV. Connect is planning a mix of lifestyle, health and wellbeing output, while Stream will offer sports.
