W3C Issues Report on Web and Television Convergence

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http://www.w3.org/ -- 28 March 2011 -- The Web and television convergence story was the focus of W3C's Second Web and TV Workshop, which took place in Berlin in February. Today, W3C publishes a report that summarizes the discussion among the 77 organizations that participated, including broadcasters, telecom companies, cable operators, OTT (over the top) companies, content providers, device vendors, software vendors, Web application providers, researchers, governments, and standardization organizations active in the TV space. Convergence priorities identified in the report include:

  • Adaptive streaming over HTTP
  • Home networking and second-screen scenarios
  • The role of metadata and relation to Semantic Web technology
  • Ensuring that convergent solutions are accessible.
  • Profiling and testing
  • Possible extensions to HTML5 for Television

"The program committee was very satisfied by the rich discussions and interactions in Berlin", said W3C's François Daoust, co-chair of the Workshop. "In a world migrating from TV as a device to TV as a service available on any device, the W3C is looking forward to developing ubiquitous Web technologies to enable scenarios that combine local (e.g., from home network devices) and global (e.g. social networks) sources to enhance the user experience on TV."

In many homes, the television is a family centerpiece. Connecting television with the Web offers tremendous opportunities for commerce, games, entertainment, and social interaction. Video on the Web, DTV, IPTV, Hybrid TV and other trends show that this convergence is well under way. As television evolves further into a service, people will expect the service to be available on a variety of devices, and to connect smoothly with other favorite services, including social networking and shopping. As the number and diversity of devices grows (across multiple industries), interoperability challenges will also grow. This is where W3C's Open Web Platform for application development comes in: it gives designers cross-platform interoperability. Open Web Platform applications will combine specific device strengths with private and networked sources of data, such as broadcast content and social networks feeds. Those apps will run on mobile devices, tables, and the family television.

Prioritization now continues in the W3C Web and TV Interest Group. That group will review existing work, as well as the relationship between services on the Web and TV services, and identify requirements and potential solutions to ensure that the Web will function well with TV.

The W3C Workshop in Berlin was made possible in part by sponsorship from Netflix, IPTV Forum Japan, and Tomo-Digi. This second Web and TV workshop was also organized with the support of the OMWeb EU project.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 325 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

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