Global sales of Project canvas hoped for by BBC

The sale of the upcoming online broadband TV platform called Project Canvas, which is the much-mooted online broadband TV service, around the world is something that the BBC are currently hoping for.

This statement that the BBC wanted Project Canvas to become a worldwide hit was made at a recent speech given at the Westminster eForum by the BBC director of IPTV, Richard Halton.

Halton spoke about Project Canvas, saying that it was the TV service that was all about bringing together “broadband and broadcast” and outlined his thoughts on the service.

He outlined what the BBC expected to achieve will Project Canvas during his speech and explained “We’re following the likes of Freeview, by creating a platform built on open standards where manufacturers will be free to take our specification and use it to create their own set-top boxes that plug directly into the internet.”

Although Halton advised that “Canvas isn’t there to generate profit but as a platform that web services can plug their content into,” he did go on to advise “Canvas has to be a standard that can be recognised and sold around the globe. There needs to be a simple piece of logic for our users – ie, you need this sort of internet connection [to use the device],” and admitted that Project Canvas becoming a solution for web TV worldwide was the hope of the BBC at the moment.

He also went on to admit that “the basis of the canvas specification will be the existing DVBT spec” which is the mainly used in parts of Europe, Africa and Australia (but not in America), which for many will be slightly confusing if the BBC do intend to use Project canvas as Global service.

Source – Tech Radar