projectcanvas.info

The partners in Project Canvas today announced that Channel Five will be re-joining the proposed joint venture, following Five’s recent acquisition by Northern & Shell.

Due to be incorporated this Summer, the Project Canvas joint venture, already backed by the BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, Talk Talk and Arqiva is currently stepping up its industry engagement to launch a consumer product in 2011.

Northern & Shell Chairman, Richard Desmond, said:

 “Project Canvas is set to shape the future of broadcasting and open up new and exciting possibilities for viewers. This is important to the future of Channel Five and having an open internet-connected TV platform fits closely with our plans to bring brilliant new content and interactive services to viewers. We’re delighted to renew Channel Five’s commitment to supporting Project Canvas following a review of our digital strategy.” 

Richard Halton, Director, Project Canvas, said:

 “Channel Five has already made a major contribution to Project Canvas and we’re delighted to have them back on board. This is great recognition of how important Canvas is to the future of television.”

Project Canvas will see the creation of a standards based, open internet-connected TV environment to offer viewers seamless access to both linear and video-on-demand, web-based content, HD, and interactive services over the internet direct to the TV.

The Project Canvas partners today formally invited expressions of interest from consumer equipment manufacturers to develop and bring Canvas devices to market in 2011.

This process will enable the joint venture to rapidly engage new device partners and develop a broad base of manufacturers supporting Canvas - with the ambition to extend its current programme.

Project Canvas director, Richard Halton said, “Canvas is stepping up its engagement with industry as we get closer to releasing the final set of technical documents to the DTG this month, and launching a consumer product next year.

Bringing on board further consumer equipment manufacturers will ensure people have the widest possible choice of devices and we remain focused on supporting the industry to stimulate a competitive market. We continue to work closely with the DTG to develop common standards for Connected TV”.

Interested parties should express their interest by applying to the Project Canvas programme team by email at contact@projectcanvas.info, by 5.00pm on 25 August, 2010.

Expressions of interest received by the closing date will be taken forward into a process to identify consumer device manufacturers to work with the proposed joint venture as Device Partners.

This process and the criteria to be used have been discussed with the Chairman and Executive of the Digital Television Group (DTG) and are published under ‘Device Manufacturers’ in the ‘Industry & Technology’ section of the Project Canvas web site. The number of Device Partners taken on at this stage will reflect the resources that are available within the Project Canvas programme and engineering teams.

The partners in Project Canvas, the proposed joint venture between the BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, Talk Talk and Arqiva to build a standards based, open internet-connected TV environment, have today announced Kip Meek as Non-Executive Chairman.

The announcement follows the BBC Trust’s approval of the BBC’s involvement in the venture in late June.

As Chairman, Kip Meek will lead the Board of the new venture and oversee the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer, who will have day to day operational responsibility for the new organisation. He will step down from his full time role at Ingenious Media and his non-executive positions at the Broadband Stakeholder Group and Phorm.

Kip Meek said: "Internet technology creates unlimited choice and can also give people real control over what they watch, and when they watch it.

"Project Canvas will integrate the broadcast and on-demand worlds to make this possible via the TV. It will also allow third-party business models to thrive through an open platform, bringing the benefits of next-generation TV to anyone who wants it.

"With the backing of these six substantial partners, we have the opportunity to transform television. I look forward to working with the board and the executive team to make this happen."

Kip Meek assumes the role with immediate effect and succeeds BBC Director of Future Media and Technology Erik Huggers who has acted as project chair for the last year.

Huggers said: "Project Canvas is of huge importance to the digital media industry, as it will secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting in the digital age. This is a major moment for a project started by the BBC and developed in partnership with the wider industry.

"Project Canvas can now continue its journey towards incorporation as a business standing on its own two feet. On behalf of the shareholders, I’m delighted to have attracted someone as respected as Kip Meek to the challenge."

Meek has a distinguished career in British media and telecoms. Prior to joining Ingenious, he held a variety of responsibilities at Ofcom, including chairing the European Regulators Group, and was instrumental in the establishment of BT’s operationally independent infrastructure company Openreach. Before joining Ofcom, he was Managing Director of Spectrum Strategy Consultants.

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Project Canvas partners today announced that Five will not pursue further involvement in Project Canvas, pending a review of its digital investment strategy.

Project Canvas, approved by the BBC Trust in June, continues with the backing of the BBC, BT, ITV, Channel 4, Talk Talk and Arqiva.

Charles Constable, Director of Strategy at Five said "We continue to support the objectives of Project Canvas and despite withdrawing our interest in the venture we believe it will be a critical part of our strategy for reaching consumers in the future."

Richard Halton, Project Canvas, Director said: "We’ve had excellent support from Five. They share our goal of bringing the benefits of internet-connected TV to all. We look forward to working with them as a content provider to the platform in the future."

Project Canvas will see the creation of a standards based, open internet-connected TV environment. It proposes to offer viewers seamless access to both linear and video-on-demand, web-based content, HD, and interactive services over the internet direct to the TV.

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Project Canvas today published information on its content protection strategy, designed to enable Canvas to support the widest possible range of content types for internet-connected TV audiences.

The requirements set out a range of content protection options to give individual content providers flexibility over the level of protection they wish to adopt and consumers the widest range of content.

As an open platform, providers can choose to make content available with no protection at all, or adopt transport encryption, file encryption, device authentication, or digital rights management (DRM). Conditional Access upgrade will also be possible for those who require it. Further detail is available in the technology section on the Project Canvas web site.

For providers of premium content, such as the latest movie releases, or those requiring a subscription or download model, Canvas will support Marlin as the required DRM solution, at launch, which has been developed over the past five years by Intertrust, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Sony.

The selection of Marlin follows widespread industry engagement with content owners, content distributors, device manufacturers and internet service providers, from which it was concluded that a common DRM solution present on all devices at launch and widely supported by content providers would benefit all industry participants. Marlin is referenced in Release 1 of the Open IPTV Forum specifications and therefore has the potential to be widely adopted as a part of internet-connected TV device deployments worldwide.

Anthony Rose, chief technology officer, Project Canvas said:

"Project Canvas has worked hard to account for the needs of all industry participants and ensure a rich and diverse TV viewing experience for consumers. We have also considered the submissions of key industry participants into the BBC Trust approval process.

Our content protection requirements have to cater for the widest possible number of content providers, including giving reassurance to those looking to support pay per view and subscription access to film. The industry is looking for a fully supported DRM solution, and Marlin will give content providers the best option at launch. Marlin is based on open standards, is already widely supported and is being increasingly deployed by the industry."

The publication of the Project Canvas Content Protection requirements add to the technical specification documents already made available to industry through the Digital Television Group (DTG) with the most recent documents released on 30th June. In line with its timetable, Project Canvas plans to submit further technical documents on 30th July and 19th August.

Aside from the technical documents released via the DTG, a timetable for the publication of other materials of relevance to consumer device manufacturers, content providers and retailers (e.g. Software Development Kit, Trade Mark Licenses and Retail Training Materials) will be made available on the Project Canvas web site by end July.

Project Canvas partners welcome BBC Trust approval

The partners in Project Canvas, the proposed joint venture between the BBC, ITV, BT, Five, Channel 4, Talk Talk and Arqiva to develop a standards based, open internet-connected TV environment, have today welcomed the BBC Trust‘s approval of the BBC’s involvement.

This news marks the conclusion of a regulatory process that began in February 2009, when the BBC Trust published the BBC’s initial proposals. 

Project Director Richard Halton said: "We are delighted by today’s news. The BBC Trust has subjected the proposals to the highest level of scrutiny and the findings reflect over a year of consultation and debate. The partners will work through the final conclusions and conditions and step up our engagement with the wider industry as we plan towards a consumer launch. 

"Project Canvas will safeguard the future of the UK’s free-to-air TV platforms and allow new business models to thrive through an open, internet-connected, TV platform. This brings the benefits of next-generation TV to all consumers, including those who choose not to subscribe to pay-TV. We look forward to rising to that challenge." 

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Project Canvas is making the next set of technical specifications available to industry through the Digital Television Group (DTG) with a timetable for when further technical documents will also be released. 

The Consumer Device Software Management Software Specification, System Metadata Model and IP Content Delivery Specification will submitted to the DTG by 31 May and released via the member zone of the DTG website on 1 June. This is the second set of technical documents to be submitted to DTG members for peer-review.

Richard Lindsay-Davies, Director-General, Digital Television Group, said: "The DTG welcomes the release of further detailed information from the Canvas partners and looks forward to working with them, and our membership, towards the publication of D-Book 7 and the launch of world-leading connected television products and services into the horizontal market.

In addition to the development of the specification, the DTG continues to work in partnership with industry to develop our existing Digital Tick, Freeview and Freesat test and conformance regimes to ensure the interoperability of connected television services and receivers.”

Richard Halton, Project Canvas Director, said: “We want Project Canvas to support a competitive market for connected TV, which is open to all manufacturers, ISPs, retailers, content and service providers. This is why we have gone to great lengths to accommodate the market's needs in developing these technical specifications. With its diversity of members, our engagement with the DTG helps us achieve this.”

The Digital Television Group (DTG) provides a recognised industry forum for industry experts to contribute to the UK specification for digital terrestrial television – the D-Book.

DTG members now comprise over 150 organisations drawn from broadcasters, manufacturers, platform operators, retailers, trade bodies, charities and consumer groups, and therefore are the most appropriate industry group to provide their expertise to peer-review the Project Canvas technical documents.

The timetable for releasing technical documents is outlined below.

The partners behind Project Canvas have today welcomed the OFT’s ruling that the proposed Canvas venture should not be assessed under their jurisdiction as a qualifying merger.

Project Canvas - a partnership between Arqiva, BBC, BT, Channel 4, Five, ITV and TalkTalk - proposes to provide a connected future for free-to-air TV in the UK, and give consumers subscription-free access to a wide choice of third party connected TV devices, content services and applications.

The proposed new joint venture would not own, control, or aggregate any content.

Project Canvas director Richard Halton said:

"The Project Canvas partners welcome the decision from the OFT, which confirms our analysis and sets the scene for the final stage of the regulatory process.

Project Canvas aims to create an open platform that delivers a connected future for free-to-air TV and a competitive market for internet connected TV services in the UK. The Project Canvas partners are committed to achieving that aim."

With the BBC Trust assessing the Project Canvas proposals, the partners approached the OFT in March 2010 to seek formal clarification over the proposed venture’s status - which has been confirmed with today’s decision.

Project Canvas has submitted key documents to the Digital Television Group (DTG) today making the next set of technical specifications available to industry.

The publication of these documents is in addition to Project Canvas partners’ active participation in the DTG Connected TV working groups. The result of this DTG work will be the publication of the UK Connected TV Specification: D-Book 7 by December 2010.

In addition to the Consumer Device Platform Specification and Broadcast Content Delivery Specification available from today, further documents will be published in the members’ area of the DTG web site including the Consumer Device Software Management Specification, IP Content Delivery Specification and System Metadata Model at www.dtg.org.uk/members.

“This is an important statement of our commitment to developing a common technical standard for internet-connected TV,” said Richard Halton project director Canvas. “These are the first in a set of technical documents we have committed to make available via the DTG by the end of May. This transparency will help create an open, competitive market and this is essential to bringing the greatest choice of devices, content services and applications to consumers”.