Launch of Hong Kong Interactive TV Platform

Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) (Hong Kong: 0511) is pleased to announce the launch of interactive TV service on 8 August 2008, in time for audience to catch up with the latest news on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Hong Kong Interactive TV Platform is made possible through the concerted effort of Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI), Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and TVB. Viewers can now obtain timely and important information at the touch of a button without disrupting the pleasure of viewing.

Attending the event, Mr Kevin Choi, Principal Assistant Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Communications and Technology) welcomed the industry’s initiative. “Digitisation offers a new frontier for the broadcasters and viewers in terms of both programming quality and quantity. The launch of new interactive services, alongside with the free-to-air high-definition and multi-channel television broadcasting services already commenced since last December, will no doubt bring about a brand new audio-visual experience to our viewing public in Hong Kong.”

“After the successful launch of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in Hong Kong at the end of 2007, the next important step is to deploy interactive TV services to boost the DTT penetration,” said Dr Shen-Chang Chao, Vice President and R&D Group Director, Enterprise and Consumer Electronics Group, ASTRI.

Mr S K Cheong, General Manager – Broadcasting, TVB expressed that “In addition to providing television services, digital television platform allows many new services that are unique and not available on traditional analogue television to be easily accessible to viewers. TVB is proud to be the first to introduce interactive data television services and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound on free TV in Hong Kong. These value-added services will definitely be a driving force for DTT adoption.”

TVB will roll out the interactive TV services in various phases. The “TVBar” has already been on trial since 28 July 2008 on HD Jade and J2. At the touch of a button, the TVBar will list out information on Weather, Hang Seng Index, News Headlines and Olympic Medal List. Other services including enhanced information to support relevant TV programmes such as food and travel programmes, programme synopsis/ EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), and shopping information will follow soon.

“Today, the Hong Kong DTT middleware standard (the ‘Hong Kong Profile’) is ready, the conformance testing is ready, the industry consortium for improving the Hong Kong Profile is being set up, the live broadcast of real applications has commenced, a labeling scheme has been set up and set-top-boxes/IDTVs that can work with these applications are available in the market.” Mr Cheong said.

Mr Cheong emphasised that to enjoy all these benefits, consumers must choose higher tier set-top boxes that bear the TVB interactive logo. He further pointed out that credit should be given to all the parties concerned for working so closely together to make the Hong Kong Interactive TV Platform possible and to make it achieve a complete state of readiness to enable a full service launch.

“In order to facilitate the development of interactive TV services, it is essential that every industry player is working to a common middleware standard. As an independent R&D institute, ASTRI is delighted to take up the role of defining and enhancing this Hong Kong DTT middleware standard (the “Hong Kong Profile”). To do this, ASTRI will be working with all broadcasters, the testing organisation (Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks), global standards organisations (for example, UK Digital TV Group for MHEG-5), third party software vendors and receiver manufacturers to develop this industry standard. The publication and update of the Hong Kong Profile will be coordinated by an open industry consortium (Digital Living Consortium), hosted by ASTRI to synergise common technologies and standards for Digital TV, Personal Video Recording, Home Network and Connectivity used in today’s digital homes,” added Dr Chao.

Also officiating at the ceremony was Ir S W Cheung, Vice President, Business Development and Technology Support for HKSTP, “We are pleased to announce the set-up of the MHEG-5 Hong Kong Profile Testing Platform at our Wireless Communications Test Laboratory (WCTL), the first of its kind in the region. The powerful test and measurement hardware can validate major test criteria encompassing ISO specifications, MHEG-5 Profile conformance and the Hong Kong extension, application lifecycle test, and the object carousel. To ensure top quality receivers for consumers, and following the various test criteria, WCTL can execute more than 400 test cases for set-top box manufacturers and developers.”

“Both ASTRI and TVB endorsed HKSTP as its conformance testing partner for the Interactive TV services because of the neutral role that HKSTP can play and its stringent testing procedures in accordance with advanced international standards. For these reasons, TVB also requires all DTT receivers that wish to obtain the TVB Interactive TV logo to first pass HKSTP’s conformance test,” continued Ir Cheung.

“As a major centre of innovation for the region, HKSTP has a distinctive role to play in helping to create the conducive environment to support both terrestrial and mobile digital TV technology and services. HKSTP strives to work closely with the industry to enhance and offer the conformance testing services on MHEG-5 and the Hong Kong Profile. The facility in HKSTP also supports testing of television broadcasting standards, including the National Standard (GB20600-2006) and those of Taiwan, Korea, UK and Europe DTV standards,” added Cheung.