"TeleWeb - Internet pages on TV-Sets for IFA 1999" 1.0 The TeleWeb Principle 2.0 The TeleWeb Business Case 2.1 The Benefits of TeleWeb 2.1.1 Benefit to the Consumer 2.1.2 Benefit to the Broadcaster 2.1.3 Benefit to the TV Manufacturer 2.1.4 Benefit to the Content Provider 2.1.5 Benefit to the Service Packager 2.1.6 Benefit to the Advertiser 2.1.7 Benefit to the System Provider 2.2 The Transition Strategy - Teletext to TeleWeb, TeleWeb to Digital TV 2.3 The Convergence Market - TV meets PC 3.0 The Network Infrastructure 4.0 The Progress of the EACEM TeleWeb Project 1.0 The TeleWeb Principle The TeleWeb Service proposed by EACEM is designed to bring Web-style content to the Living Room Television, to give the Consumer an enhanced Television experience without the pitfalls of the Internet. The TeleWeb Service will run on today's TV networks, in parallel to Teletext and NexTView, whilst providing a natural migration path to Digital Television Information Services. Taking advantage of the promises of the Internet but its failure to deliver on those promises, TeleWeb brings a suite of Internet-style "Information Packages" directly to the Living Room TV. Without the associated cost, performance problems, and difficulty of use of the Internet, and using existing broadcasting infrastructure, TeleWeb can truly deliver the reality of content-rich, easy-to-use information to the home market. The fact that the 'Information Terminal' is a TV, means that the service is immediately familiar. TeleWeb ensures that the technology hurdle of PC usage is no longer a barrier to the typical Consumer for Web-style information. So, TeleWeb can take advantage of the Internet hype, avoiding inherent problems, whilst providing a better service free of charge, bringing the reality, stability and mass coverage features that are characteristic to Broadcasting. TeleWeb will allow the Content Provider to deliver a more friendly service to a wider audience, thereby creating new business opportunities for every participant in the Service Chain, namely Content Providers, Advertisers, Service Providers, Broadcasters, System Providers, Access Manufacturers, and Consumers. Unlike existing protocols, TeleWeb will provide a natural upgrade path from Teletext, although it can co-exist with Teletext on the same network. Using the next generation of 'Information Protocol' (DSMCC), TeleWeb services will natural ly migrate to the Digital TV domain. TeleWeb will cater for the needs of Public and Private Broadcasters, encompassing Programme-Related Content, Advertising, and Subscription Services. In the area of PC-TV market convergence, TeleWeb will contain the best of both worlds - attractive multimedia-based applications that to date have been the domain of the PC industry, that are delivered on TV, the true 'Mass Consumer' information device. Further, the journalistic expertise that has been accrued within the Teletext industry over many years will, within TeleWeb, be used in a more modern publishing format, encompassing old and new content types, and delivering a much more attractive and interactive service to the Consumer. 2.0 The TeleWeb Business Case Today, the electronic information service of the mass Consumer is undoubtedly Teletext. Despite all the hype, Internet Providers can only dream of having a market volume equal to that of frequent Teletext users. In Europe alone, there are approximately 200 Million Teletext users - it is estimated that the Internet, on the other hand, will achieve a total worldwide user base of 200 million users in the Year 2000. Today, all participants in the Teletext Service Chain generate hundreds of millions of dollars, from a system that looks increasingly outdated, in terms of the standards of the modern Consumer, living in an age of un-precedented information demand. The Internet, whilst having significant cost and performance problems, has, however, raised the expectations of the Consumer, by offering information in attractive multimedia formats. At the same time, the Digital TV revolution is on the doorstep - many Broadcasters are already either in the planning or pilot phases of network implementation. The new digital networks of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries will lower network costs, and potentially increase the variety of services to the mass Consumer. Part of this new digital highway will be wide-bandwidth "Information Pipes", capable of delivering multimedia information services to the Consumer at previously-unheard-of speeds. However, as was the case with analogue networks and Teletext services, mass market penetration of a brand new transmission standard, information service, and digital TV receivers, will take many years. Today's Teletext Consumer should not be abandoned, and a means needs to be found of enhancing and adding more value to the services which are being offered to the Consumer today, whilst building a bridge to the Digital TV services of the future. TeleWeb is precisely such a bridge, between today and tomorrow - in other words, enhancing, adding value, and earning more revenue today, whilst preparing the expectations, learning about the needs and understanding how to meet the demands of the mass Consumer of tomorrow. The european association of consumer manufacturers proposes that TeleWeb is precisely such a bridge. Using existing analogue networks, it is possible to deliver attractive multimedia and interactive services to today's Consumer. TeleWeb services can be received by current TV sets using low-cost set-top box technology, whilst the next generation of analogue TVs (commercially available by late-1999) will include TeleWeb functionality for an additional manufacturing cost in the region of DM 40. 2.1 The Benefits of TeleWeb This document briefly outlines the benefits of TeleWeb for each element of the Service Chain, namely: * Benefit to the Consumer * Benefit to the Broadcaster * Benefit to the TV Manufacturer * Benefit to the Content Provider * Benefit to the Service Packager * Benefit to the Advertiser * Benefit to the System Provider Each of these is now dealt with in turn overleaf. 2.1.1 Benefit to the Consumer Briefly, the benefits to the Consumer are:- * Much more attractive information format, tailor-made to TV screen * Extremely user-friendly service, ease of navigation through the content, using the TV remote control * A large amount of content with greatly increased speed of information access compared with today's teletext and Internet services * Possibility to automatically retrieve information of interest based on personal profile * Perceived "Internet TV", without the telephone cost * Existing teletext services embedded * Compatibility with future digital service formats * Individual reception of information * Availability of new services, such as 'Infotainment', E-mail Alert, User Group Information Broadcast, User Messaging Services, etc. * Optional back-channel to the service provider, allowing customer response to available services and access to further information * Integrated as well as Set-Top-Box buying option 2.1.2 Benefit to the Broadcaster The primary benefits to the Broadcaster are:- * An opportunity to increase revenue on the sale of VBI capacity * An opportunity to use VBI bandwidth and bandwidth management capacity to offer increased service levels for their TV station * An opportunity to increase prices as gate-keeper of the scarce VBI commodity * If a terrestrial broadcast station simulcasts on DVB-VBI, this offers the opportunity to add value with TeleWeb services * In simulcast mode, the DVB-VBI TeleWeb services may expand current coverage areas beyond normal terrestrial coverage 2.1.3 Benefit to the TV Manufacturer * TeleWeb adds value to the TV, and helps keep the price level up * TeleWeb expand the TV that would otherwise be realised by other devices from new market entrants, e.g. PCTVs * TeleWeb is an evolutionary enhancement of current Teletext technology, rather than a revolutionary development of radically new technology, thus easily and quickly integrable into existing infrastructure * TeleWeb will be a powerful marketing tool that will help in accelerating the TV replacement process, thus enhancing sales * TeleWeb application investment is future-proof, as it will extend to DVB-based TV sets 2.1.4 Benefit to the Content Provider * Greater Consumer acceptance and greater market potential, compared to existing and already successful Teletext services * More information due to Receiver storage memory * Better quality of service presentation and navigation * Improved service navigation allowing more powerful and easier-to use content summaries and service indexes * More attractive and interactive services, through use of the popular HTML publishing standard * Individual addressed services - closed user applications, pay-teletext, push services * Widely-available publishing skills * Easier content collection or integration into the workflow with increased publishing throughput * User feedback through optionally-available low cost modem back channel * Much more powerful advertising formats due to the inherent graphic capabilities of HTML * Program-related content services (like Intercast, but using the TV instead of the PC) * Decoder integrated in mass market product * Optional set top box for upgrade possibility of existing TV sets * New services and new revenue opportunities * Widely-available distribution chains 2.1.5 Benefit to the Service Packager * TeleWeb is another platform for distribution of service packager products * TeleWeb will reach a larger segment of the population than Internet * It is more attractive for Advertisers in the "Free" segment * There are more potential Subscribers in the "Pay" segment * It is easy to promote the TeleWeb service in collaboration with the Broadcaster * Service Packagers with a Teletext background can now better compete against other platforms for delivery of advertising, through use of an attractive TeleWeb service. 2.1.6 Benefit to the Advertiser * TeleWeb offers the dual advantages of the mass market penetration of Teletext, combined with the high presentation standard of 'Internet-type' content * TeleWeb will offer much greater differentiation from competitor advertising than can be achieved with Teletext, due to the greatly enhanced graphical capabilities of a 'TeleWeb display' * TeleWeb advertising will deliver a more powerful message in a shorter advertising slot than is possible with Teletext * TeleWeb TVs enabled with a modem feedback path will allow Consumers to respond to advertising and the advertiser to build a market profile * TeleWeb will offer the opportunity of targeted advertising, to Consumer groups 2.1.7 Benefit to the System Provider * TeleWeb provides a significant opportunity to increase sales, as the Teletext market transitions to TeleWeb, and as the Digital TV market recognises the value of TeleWeb as a value-added service * TeleWeb offers a lower-risk route for 'Analog TV' System Providers to enter the Digital TV Services market * TeleWeb will offer more opportunities in spin-off business, such as Content Creation, Scheduling, and Advertising tools, primarily due to the greater marketing potential of a TeleWeb application, the storage capacity of the TV, and the greater market potential for TeleWeb as services penetrate both the Teletext and Digital TV markets * There is likely to be a greater skills pool to choose from in resourcing the System Provider's company to meet the needs of TeleWeb, due to the more penetrated nature of multimedia authoring, display, and management technologies in the market 2.2 The Transition Strategy - Teletext to TeleWeb, TeleWeb to Digital TV There are doubtless many people who will point out that TeleWeb as proposed is positioned between today's teletext and tomorrow's Digital TV Information Services. This then raises the question as to why it is necessary to have something between the two, that is to say "Why not go directly from analogue Teletext to Digital TV-based Information Services" ? The reality is that: * The services with which the Consumer is familiar today are analogue-based Teletext services. * The TV manufacturers' primary income today is from the sale of analogue TVs and VCRs * Commercial TV networks earn money today from Teletext services, and many are looking for opportunities to increase revenues from the existing network * Digital TV networks will take several years before they are well- penetrated into the mass Consumer market, in terms of the wide availability of transmission networks, the wide availability of information services, and the mass Consumer uptake of set-top boxes and digital TVs themselves The EACEM TeleWeb group (comprised of Broadcasters, TV Manufacturers, Content Providers, and System Vendors) believes that TeleWeb will provide a natural and an economically-viable bridge between the worlds of analogue Teletext and Digital TV-based information services. Firstly, in order to provide a migration path for the Consumer, the Broadcaster, and the Content Provider from Teletext to TeleWeb, the TeleWeb system will:- * Easily co-exist with current Teletext services * Content Providers are able to utilise already-existing infrastructure and editorial know-how, skills and capacity for this new service * Allow Teletext pages to be viewed in their native format on TeleWeb- enabled TVs * Provide low-cost external TeleWeb Decoder technology for existing non- TeleWeb and / or non-Teletext-enabled TVs * Use new TeleWeb TV models from major TV manufacturers which provide the basic TeleWeb functionality at an additional manufacturing cost of around DM 40. Secondly, in order to provide a migration path for the Consumer, the Broadcaster and the Content Provider from TeleWeb to Digital TV-based information services, the TeleWeb system will:- * Be based on the DSM-CC protocol, already in use by Digital TV * Provide an open standard and a suite of Content Provider APIs to easily migrate services to the digital domain * Provide an open interface between TeleWeb decoder and Digital TV decoder technology 2.3 The Convergence Market - TV meets PC With the increasing congestion of the Internet, the PC industry is looking to broadcasting as a means of alleviating the 'logjam', using Internet Broadcasting. Already, Microsoft and Intel, amongst others, are trialling services on-air, and standards are currently being defined within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for the delivery of Internet Protocol (IP) over VBI. It is likely that a standard will also be defined for delivery of IP over DVB. These initiatives will result in new types of services being defined by the PC industry, which will raise the expectations of the Consumer, for 'Infotainment' as well as business services delivered via television broadcast. Additionally, not only will the service type evolve, but the 'Consumer Viewing Device' will, according to some PC industry pundits, increasingly move towards being a PC-TV. In the words of Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft - "You won't have a distinction between what was a TV set and what was a PC. They will be connected together". Microsoft has already backed up this vision with its purchase of WebTV. It is, nevertheless, difficult to foresee even a PC-TV device challenging the dominant position of the TV as the information terminal of the Mass Consumer Market, given that the innovative nature of the TV industry itself. But rather than the TV and PC industries challenging for dominance, it is much more likely that the two will find a natural path to convergence over time. The Information Broadcast market structure is shown below. In the diagram shown, there is little or no convergence between the different layers of the market - applications that run on PCs will not run on Set-Top Boxes, and native TV services such as Teletext do not integrate with Set-Top Box applications. No single application exists which will offer the Consumer information access, in a consistent way, in all market tiers. The Consumer is offered an array of applications, without any consistency from one market tier to another, resulting in increasing market fragmentation. TeleWeb, however, offers the opportunity of convergence - it offers a suite of information services at a presentation standard that has traditionally be en the domain of the PC, and future versions will allow user interaction with TeleWeb Content Providers and Advertisers, using the Internet. This will foster growth of new services, such as Home Shopping, On-Line Television Surveys, and Email Alert. The currently-planned implementation of TeleWeb will offer a low-speed dialup option to the Internet, for uploading of Consumer feedback, and an 'Information Port' option, to allow interconnection of the TeleWeb TV and a PC, creating the possibility to develop new applications at both ends of the TV-PC link. And the multimedia authoring skills already developed in the PC world can now be re-used for delivery of TV-based information services. In the future, TeleWeb applications will run on a series of platforms, including Analog TV, Digital TV, and even the PC. The Consumer can choose to select a basic set of TeleWeb functionality at a relatively low price, by buying a 'TeleWeb TV', or can increase functionality through purchase of a Set-Top Box or a PC, at an increased price. TeleWeb offers the opportunity to unify currently-disparate markets, to the advantage of Service Chain Members in both the TV and PC industries. 3.0 The Network Infrastructure In general, the network infrastructure needed to support TeleWeb broadcasts is shown in the diagram below. There are a number of key components in this system. These are:- * The Content Provider Workstation * The Transmission Server * The Transmission Encoder - Packet 31 Encoder or DVB Multiplexer * The Transmission Protocol - DSM-CC (VBI and DVB implementations) * The TeleWeb TV For analog TV, the Encoder component is a standard Packet 31 device. In the case of Digital TV, this component will be a DVB Multiplexer. For Content Authoring and Transmission Control, a Client-Server architecture may well be used, allowing creation of content by local or remote Content Providers, as well as collection of pre-authorised content from the Internet itself. This material is then submitted to the Transmission Server, with the specification for the "Information Channel" into which the content will be inserted, the TV 'groups' (probably all TeleWeb TVs) to receive the information, and the schedule for transmission. Such networks are available in the market today for PC-based Internet Broadcast, and TeleWeb versions will be available for the TeleWeb service. All content creation and control technology will be based on widely- available tools, supported by standard technologies, such as content authoring, Client-Server computing, and so on. It is highly likely that the skill set required to operate a TeleWeb network is already resident within most Teletext Broadcasters, as the Teletext industry already widely provides multiple forms of their service. Therefore, re-training is likely not an issue. 4.0 The Progress of the EACEM TeleWeb Project The EACEM TeleWeb Group was formed in 1997, and a kick-off meeting was held in Munich in October 1997. Since then, the group has split into Commercial and Technical Sub-Groups, and the overall Chair is held by Mr. Jan Van Lier, Chairman of EACEM Working Party 1.4 - Data Broadcasting Services. Since the kick-off meeting, a considerable amount of work has been carried out over a number of meetings, and to date a Commercial Framework (herein) and a Technical Requirements Document have been completed.