XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
content format A content format is an encoded format for converting a specific type of data to displayable information. Content formats are used in recording and transmission to prepare data for observation or interpretation. This includes both analog and dig ...
designed to allow web site operators to easily develop and deploy
Interactive TV
Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...
services, typically it reduces the time taken for web site operators to create a
TV Site
A TV site is a website designed for viewing on a television set.
Unlike mobile and PC access, the use of internet sites through the TV has been small, mostly due to the poor user experience of many "web on TV" deployments, and the "walled garden" ...
, and results in the Site being deployable on a larger number of devices, and is capable of being automatically validated, tested and transformed.
WTVML was originally developed by Ian Valentine and Patrick Sansom in a company called
WapTV
WapTV now Miniweb was the name given to the company which originated the WTVML (Worldwide TV Mark-up Language) as a content format for the delivery of Interactive TV applications using Internet Servers. The system is an Interactive television tec ...
. After demonstrating the ability to develop Interactive TV services using web infrastructures and XML, and successfully deploying them to existing TV set-top-boxes over dial up modems, the company was acquired by BSkyB. The technology was first used to launch Sky's interactive betting service on December 6th 2000, and later became the basis of a large number of "red button" channel portals and internet based interactive services.
The format follows a strict XML syntax (DTD) that has been developed in response to multiple user requirements by
BSkyB
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
, and is now being enhanced by ''Miniweb Interactive''. The format was standardized through ETSI as TS 102 322.ETSI Website /ref>
WTVML has the potential to unify the Interactive TV content creation industry, which has been hampered by proprietary "middlewares" and a lack of browser standards.
The fragmentation of technologies available to build Digital TV platforms has meant that typical web site operators have had no common content format available to them to allow them to develop their
TV Site
A TV site is a website designed for viewing on a television set.
Unlike mobile and PC access, the use of internet sites through the TV has been small, mostly due to the poor user experience of many "web on TV" deployments, and the "walled garden" ...
once, and deploy it unchanged across multiple networks and devices.
Some newer set-top boxes (particularly
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
devices) use various versions of HTML browsers. Many of these have proprietary TV extensions, and different deployment characteristics, which result in untested services being deployed unfaithfully or worse with run-time errors. Due to the need for explicit layouts, as well as other reasons, many designers attempting to create TV Style services using HTML browsers need to make extensive use of JavaScript, which has the result of further inhibiting interoperability, and requires manual testing of a service before it is deployed by the majority of networks, thus essentially closing a network from open internet access.
WTVML services can be automatically and dynamically transformed into various forms of HTML/JS/CSS, making them compatible with traditional web browsers as well as WTVML native browsers, and allowing the network operator to manage his platform specific features independently from the standard used by the web site authors. WTVML follows a web 2.0 style model, in that complete applications are DTD driven, allowing TV Style services to be created without the use of Script.
Between 2000 and 2008 the industry, including the DVB,
See also
*
waptv
WapTV now Miniweb was the name given to the company which originated the WTVML (Worldwide TV Mark-up Language) as a content format for the delivery of Interactive TV applications using Internet Servers. The system is an Interactive television tec ...