EBU to offer free HbbTV platform for Olympics

The EBU is offering its members a platform to deploy HbbTV services during this year’s Olympic Games and Eurovision Song Contest.

Three white label applications will be provided free-of-charge to EBU members, who can customise them with their own content to provide interactive services including catch-up, VOD, interactive advertising, voting, gaming and social networking.

EBU director general Ingrid Deltenre said, “More than 20 EBU members have agreed to collaborate to unlock the full potential of hybrid TV for a European rollout of the technology in 2012. Underlying this co-operation is the shared conviction that only high-quality creative content can breathe life into the promise of hybrid technology, and only a flexible, cross-border approach will make it happen quickly.”

The EBU is today hosting a Creative Content Workshop to enable EBU members to share experiences and ideas for hybrid applications. The EBU said that the event would see members agreeing on common approaches to issues relating to the deployment of successful hybrid TV services, such as colour-coded buttons and a common market for hybrid television applications.