The DVB Steering Board has given its approval to the publication of three blue books, which will ultimately lead to new ETSI standards.
DVB BlueBook A178-2 is the signalling specification for DVB Targeted Advertising (DVB-TA). It complements the specification for interfacing and preparation of media, published as BlueBook A178-1 last November. Broadcast signalling is needed for targeted advertising to indicate precisely the start and end boundaries of the broadcast service segment that can be replaced. This replaceable segment is referred to as a placement opportunity.
Earlier this month the HbbTV Association, which works closely with DVB, also published its targeted advertising specification. It was developed to address those commercial requirements from DVB that relate to the interface between a broadcaster app and the TV set or set-top box. The HbbTV-TA specification enables a broadcaster app to control the process of replacing a broadcast advert with a broadband-delivered advert.
The Steering Board also approved a revision of DVB BlueBook A176, the specification for adaptive bitrate streaming over multicast (DVB-mABR). The reference architecture had already been published in March 2018, but the new version represents the first stable draft of the complete specification. (The BlueBook will be published in the coming days following the resolution of some minor editorial details.) Relevant external organisations will be invited to review it before it is forwarded to ETSI for standardisation.