The Finnish HDTV Forum has said it plans to ratify the HbbTV connected TV standard as recently defined by the TV specifications body NorDig.
Members of the Finnish HDTV Forum see the HbbTV specification having wide market acceptance supporting a wide range of TV applications and new hybrid services.
Most of the 400,000 TV receivers sold annually in Finland come with internet TV on board and all the major broadcasters have services available over the internet.
“We see that HbbTV will be a major standard and launching it together with other market players in Finland gives a great start for bringing various services based on HbbTV available to viewers” says Matti Lampinen, technology manager, Sanoma Entertainment Finland Oy.
“Without a common standard we have found it difficult to develop our offering of internet-based TV services on the TV screens”, added Risto Koivula, CTO of MTV Media. “Solutions based on the HbbTV specification will help us to reach the Finnish TV households in both broadcast and IP adding more value for the TV screen”.
In the past, Finland has attempted to use the MHP standard, but enthusiasm for the API soon waned.
All the major television manufacturers have confirmed their support for the Nordic HbbTV implementation. The first receivers will be available before the summer, with Finnish HDTV Forum members hoping adoption will mirror that of Teletext in the early 1980s.
