1. miniweb
interactive
Making
interactive tv
affordable
The changing economics
of interactive TV, and
why it now makes good
business sense

2. Contents
Introduction
3
Lessons from the past
Broadband not broadcast
5
Cheap content authoring
What! Not HTML?
6
Low cost of deployment
7
Generating usage
Affordable interactive TV – NOW!
8
What is the future of interactive TV?
Conclusion
9
Contact
11
2

3. Introduction Services that are expensive to build and run and are
deployed to a small number of devices are ultimately
Interactive TV has been a success in various ‘niche’,
doomed to failure. However, services that can be
high value applications such as TV betting and
developed cheaply, deployed widely, operated at low
interactive advertising, yet despite these successes
cost, and associated with TV audiences to generate
it has failed to enter the mainstream, largely due to a
traffic, can make real economic sense.
combination of commercial and technical barriers that
have prevented its widespread adoption. This paper examines the past, present and future of
interactive TV and the significant changes that are
These barriers are now rapidly crumbling and a new era
happening right now, which will make interactive TV
is emerging, where the very nature of TV is networked
so affordable, and so ubiquitous, that it could well
and interactive. This future sees TV move towards
represent the next ‘big thing’ in consumer interaction.
a social, community driven, empowering, deeply
entertaining and engaging TV experience which has
Lessons from the past
interactivity at its heart.
The first real appearance of interactive TV was in 1959,
The basis of sustainable interactive TV is in the changing
with the introduction of the telephone call-in. Since
economics. The addition of IP connections into TV devices
then, these services have gradually developed into
has the potential to bring the economics of the internet to
what we see today. Although not usually recognised
the entertainment and interactive TV industries.
as ‘interactive’, a large quantity of TV programming is
designed for, and relies on interactive opportunities for
revenue, augmenting traditional TV subscription and
advertising models.
Hardly a show goes by, or a channel visited, where a
URL, phone number or premium text service is not
presented on screen as a mechanism for audiences to
respond to the TV.
Once the economics of on-screen interactive TV can
compete with telephone, SMS text services and web,
while delivering greater interactive margins to the
broadcasters, most of these services will migrate onto
It is all about value. Content owners, TV network
the TV itself.
operators and advertisers all need to see a return on
their investments in interactive TV. Consumers need
Recent studies have shown that ‘single screen’
to be linked up to appropriate services, and see
audience participation can be as much as four
increasing benefit from their use, which enhances
times higher than ‘two screen’ web or mobile based
their TV experience.
interaction, offering broadcasters higher response
Changing the economics associated with interactive rates and higher margins.
TV requires:
Interactive TV therefore has proven benefits for content
1. the costs of service creation and deployment to owners. It enables a deeper relationship between a
be driven down to web-based levels broadcaster and its viewers. Viewers who interact spend
longer with the channel brand when they are guided to
2. usage to be increased, delivering greater
entertainment-focused applications that are relevant
consumer appeal
and compelling. Calls to action based around on-air
3. integration with core entertainment propositions
programming also drive traffic to revenue-generating
applications like betting, retail or competitions.
3

4. “services that can be developed cheaply,
deployed widely, operated at low cost, and
associated with TV audiences to generate traffic,
can make real economic sense”
Advertisers use iTV to turn a 30 second commercial
into an extended and possibly two-way interaction with
their target audience, increasing brand involvement and
generating direct sales. each distribution platform/middleware used, and partly
because of the costs of getting the applications ‘on air’.
Whatever the motive for interacting with audiences,
until now, the opportunity has been limited to the To reach all viewers in the UK alone would require 3-5
best resourced broadcasters, channel owners and separate authoring projects for satellite, cable, DTT
advertisers. It has cost as much as £1 million to build, and multiple IPTV services, plus transmission and
test, deploy and deliver major interactive television deployment costs. Lack of competition for application
services and £10,000 a month operational costs are authoring within each middleware means programming
typical. Such a high cost-base has been a major barrier costs are also kept high for each iTV environment.
to entry, inhibiting the growth of interactive TV as a
These traditional broadcast interactive TV applications
market segment.
lack the power and sophistication of internet-delivered
Today, with both digital TV and broadband being interactivity. So many content owners using iTV
commonplace in UK homes, the possibilities of have also built video-enabled websites that deliver a
interactive TV are almost limitless. However, digital TV more compelling two-way, personalised and targeted
and broadband are two separate technologies that have experience for PCs. In a broadband TV world, this is a
both now reached mainstream but have yet to converge. duplication of effort, as they are often targeting their
television audience with both an iTV and an online
Digital TV initiatives, in satellite, cable and terrestrial
service, but moving their audiences away from the
forms, were designed and deployed independently
TV device.
of broadband; they therefore rely upon broadcast
technologies as a means to deliver interactive However, broadcasters recognised the value of iTV and
applications and content. it was quickly learned that if you can drive enough traffic
through an interactive application, it can be made to pay
This use of broadcast to deliver interactivity has resulted
for itself, and the ‘red button’ was invented as a means
in many proprietary interactive platforms and expensive
to directly tie a TV audience to a contextual, relevant or
spectrum being used for its delivery. This has had a
convenient service, and thereby drive up usage.
direct effect on the cost of iTV content creation and
delivery, making an interactive service as expensive as It is interesting to note that when Sky moved towards
running a small TV channel. red button services, it also moved towards the use of
an interactive TV technology that could re-use internet
content and infrastructures, and thereby minimise the
Media content to consumers - Today
use of interactive bandwidth and service authoring.
Consumer
Sky’s micro-browser model not only allowed red button
Studios &
services to seamlessly emerge, pushing up traffic, but
Production
DTT
Broadcasters
simultaneously reduced the cost of content creation
& UGC
Internet
and hosting by pushing it back onto the industry’s web
Consumer
in Study
servers where it belonged. These two factors were
instrumental in making Sky’s service a commercial
success, and are lessons which need to be applied
as the industry evolves in the future. However, if the
technology had remained exclusively within Sky,
The lack of interoperability means that deployment and
the problems of interoperability and cross-platform
development costs remain high, partly due to the need
development would still exist.
to create bespoke broadcast iTV applications for
4

5. From past experience the following is clear: for
Broadband interactive content - enables all
interactive TV to become mainstream and affordable
for all content owners, a number of key issues need to DVD
be addressed:
Cable & Sat
IP Enabled
Studios &
1. Interoperability TV Devices
Production Consumer
Channels & DTT & in Lounge
Companies Broadcasters
DVD
for maximum reach, services need to be authored & UGC
Players
IPTV
once and deployed across multiple types of TV Web media Broadband TV
aggregators
distribution networks
Interactive TV content delivered over IP
2. Low cost content authoring
TV Site authoring must be in line with web authoring,
and re-use internet infrastructures and content from a carousel every few seconds in the hope that
management systems someone may want to use it served its purpose when
there was no alternative, but there is now a much
3. Low cost of deployment
better way to deliver applications and interactive
services need to be made available independently of
content: broadband (or even narrowband) bandwidth.
expensive testing and transmission bandwidth costs
High-end satellite set-top boxes are now starting to
4. Consumer usage
ship with ethernet ports so that they can be hooked up
to drive traffic, there must be cross platform,
to a home network and a broadband connection. Cable
ubiquitous mechanisms to associate TV audiences
(DOCSIS enabled) and IPTV set-tops can also access
with a service
the internet and later this year broadband-enabled
Freeview receivers should appear in UK retail outlets.
5. Consumer appeal
As a result, IP connectivity is now a realistic solution to
services must be fast, robust, entertaining, easy-to-
delivering iTV applications and content across all
use and contain video entertainment and rich content
TV devices.
wherever possible
Fortunately the convergence of broadband and
Cheap content authoring
broadcast, as well as other significant developments,
Having IP connectivity is not enough in itself, there
means these issues are being addressed right now.
needs to be an authoring format that will bridge the gap
between TV devices and internet content management
Broadband not broadcast
systems and infrastructure.
The future lies in the ability to deliver interoperability
This simple mark-up language already exists. The XML
across multiple networks, and to make the services
TV microbrowser format, developed by the Miniweb
available ‘on line’ rather than ‘on air’.
founders while they were at Sky, was published via the
Broadcast interactive TV can never be standardised European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI)
across different proprietary TV distribution networks in 2004 as an ETSI technical specification TS 102 322;
and devices. The key to allowing broadcasters the ‘worldwide TV Mark-up Language’ (wTVML). Miniweb
and programme makers to gain all the benefits of is now able to supply the reference implementation of
interoperability lies in the use of broadband this standard to the industry on a royalty free basis on
networks to deliver the interactivity instead of the various TV device types.
broadcast spectrum.
This format is the only commercially successful
Using broadcast bandwidth to deliver iTV applications interactive TV system based on internet protocols and
and data is an expensive and inefficient method of infrastructures, and has great relevance to the new world
delivering iTV services. Repeatedly transmitting data of broadband-enabled devices.
5

6. “the future lies in the ability to deliver
interoperability across multiple networks, and to
make the services available ‘on line’ rather
than ‘on air’”
It is currently being enhanced to support next-
generation features, which will later be re-published via
ETSI as TVML 2.0
It should be emphasised that TV Sites are not websites.
They use the internet as a network, use standard
What! Not HTML?
protocols such as http and they share the same servers
Many wonder why the same content formats used on as websites, but their pages are not designed or built
the web are not appropriate to be re-used on TV. Despite for the PC environment. Typically a TV Site is a subset
seeming to be an obvious solution to TV Site authoring, of a website, where the applications/content have been
HTML/Javascript solutions have failed to deliver on authored in wTVML specifically for display on a
almost every front. television set - the same principle as re-authoring for
mobile devices.
The problems associated with using web technologies in
a TV environment are now fully understood by operators. By using internet infrastructures and protocols, re-
The main issues are: publishing or re-using content available on the web and
accessing full transactional capabilities via web servers,
• Web technologies do not deliver interoperability; the
we are seeing the cost of iTV content creation dropping
formats are not standardised for TV and cause more
to the same levels as simple web authoring1.
fragmentation when adapted for different devices and
networks, rarely resulting in portable services It stands to reason that if content owners are already
creating interactive web destinations for the PC
• Many digital TV network operators have already
(traditional web delivery), they will invest a small
deployed millions of devices not capable of running full
incremental spend in development costs to re-use the
web browsers, but capable of running wTVML services,
content on a TV. The most expensive web infrastructure,
thereby delivering further interoperability
from servers to content management and transactional
systems, can be shared across both sites. For website
• Rather than reducing authoring costs, creating sites in
owners not currently running interactive TV services,
web dialects is often more work than in a TV friendly
this new delivery model represents a very cost-effective
format like wTVML
way to target a mass-market television audience.
• TV network operators continue to white list only
Competent web programmers can learn to use wTVML in
those services which they have manually tested for
around three weeks and there is already a 1,000 strong
their devices. This testing process adds cost to the
developer community registered and learning about
deployment of every service or site authored in HTML
this programming environment, ensuring the benefits of
or JavaScript. This effectively prevents a ‘open’ system
competition, innovation and shorter design cycles.
and forces operators down a ‘walled garden’ model
wTVML is a highly efficient programming solution for
The wTVML mark-up language is a strict XML format for
television display, requiring 5-10 times less code than
TV which is now being updated to support broadband
HTML or Javascript to achieve the same purpose. It
video, HD and various user interface effects, transitions
also uses a multi-page transmission model, allowing
and objects. Since it works across the widest range of
one request to retrieve multiple pages or scenes,
TV network and device types, both new and traditional,
resulting in extremely fast user interactivity. This
it provides the ‘Biggest Bang for your Buck’ for content
approach reduces server requests by up to six times
owners authoring interactive TV services.
compared to applications built upon HTML and helps to
For TV network operators, this format offers access preserve a good quality user experience in heavy load
to the widest range of internet derived content, as situations. It also reduces server capacity requirements
the network benefits from content already authored for internet-based interactivity when compared to
to the standard. alternative approaches.
Miniweb has partners that will build and host a static TV Site for an
1
6 SME for as little as £200/year

7. Generating usage
The original form of the ETSI approved wTVML authoring
language has been used on the BSkyB satellite platform
Reducing the cost of content creation, distribution and
to enable narrowband IP interactive TV delivery into
operations is one thing, but what about the revenue side
standard set-top boxes. This approach to interactivity,
of the coin?
and the way it has encouraged low-cost, third-party
application development, is a key reason why Sky has The overall return on investment will be based on the
bucked the worldwide trend by operating a profitable traffic or interactions that an individual service gets; an
iTV platform. increase in interactions is usually synonymous with an
increase in revenues, either directly or indirectly.
Low cost of deployment
The traditional way of generating interactive TV traffic is
Another benefit of interactive applications created using to associate a service with ‘push’ TV, either using a red
wTVML and delivered over IP is the ability to test them button link directly or via a channel menu controlled by
automatically, using a simple online robot tool, similar to the broadcaster.
the web spiders used by search engines. This automation
Wrapping interactive sponsorship around high audience
is not possible for today’s broadcast iTV applications or
programming can be very valuable, but what is the
those authored using HTML or JavaScript.
call to action? To formulate an answer we need to first
Auto-testing represents a significant saving in both cost realise that red button interactivity is limited in a number
and time-to-market. Where an old-style broadcast-based of ways, including:
application might take months to be formally approved by
• After a red button invitation is removed from the
a network operator, wTVML services can be automatically
screen, the viewer has no mechanism to get to the
tested and deployed in one hour.
service should they want to
Deploying interactive content over broadband, instead
• Red button interactivity, when linking to broadcast
of via expensive broadcast spectrum, uses bandwidth
content, does not work when watching time shifted
already paid for by the consumer and so avoids the need
or recorded material
for carousel-driven, over-the-air data downloads and the
expensive iTV bandwidth they ride upon.
• Synchronising the red button accurately to a 30
second advertising spot requires close integration
Devices that are already equipped with HTML/JS browsers
between the system playing out the adverts and the
are not left out when a TV Site is authored in wTVML. Due
network operator’s EPG or triggering system
to the declarative nature of the XML used in wTVML, the
Miniweb platform is able to transform a TV Site written
– On many networks this facility does not exist
in wTVML dynamically into various dialects of HTML/
– For many channels distributed via multiple TV
Javascript for display on these devices.
networks, this is not possible. Often the networks
have only rough programme data for the EPG, but
Therefore, via the Miniweb platform, iTV developers can
no advert level scheduling signals
re-publish their web content and re-use their internet
infrastructures to build new and compelling applications
tv keys – unlocking usage of interactive tv Sites
for a television audience, delivered to the widest range
of TV devices.
To address the limitations of current red button
technology and harness the true potential of interactive
For a content owner, comparing this solution to the
TV, Miniweb has derived a non-technological solution so
broadcast solutions of yesterday, it really is a whole new
a call to action can be transmitted as part of the video
world - interactive TV content is authored at a fraction
stream. This easily remembered ‘TV Key’ is inserted
of the cost and now sitting on a web server, effectively
with a character generator, and can work across all
deployed for free. The service can have a longer life space
platforms. It is always perfectly synchronised and can be
and be available for ‘long tail’ access from recorded or on-
recorded with the media content on a PVR so users can
demand entertainment content.
access the service whenever they choose to watch.
7

8. “TV Keys work across different TV distribution
networks, on recorded content, after the advert
or programme is finished, and even in off-line
marketing communications”
On the web, the two ways to get to content are URLs
and search. URLs do not work in a TV context, but a
numeric substitute does. This is achieved by giving
each TV Site a unique or geo-shared number, in a similar
way to EPG channel numbers, or text page numbers in
analogue Teletext.
Viewers simply need an easy way to remember the
number, a problem easily solved by associating each
number with a letter on the numeric remote control
keys. This is a proven system in the USA for example,
where the phone number 1-800-8896757 can be
remembered as 1-800-TV WORKS.
Premium rate text services often have a call to action of Right now:
‘Text TV WORKS to 67845’ – which requires two items
• Content owners can quickly and easily develop TV Sites
of information to be remembered by the viewers, and
using wTVML and register, test and deploy them for
takes them away from the TV environment.
free to over 8.8 million Sky homes using their internet
infrastructures and content
Using a TV Key, the channel simply needs to display
the TV Key and provide a way for the viewer to enter
• Channels wanting to make use of an interactive
8896757 into the TV.
capability can tell their viewers to press ‘interactive,
not red’, and enter a TV Key specific for that channel or
programme. The immediate result of entering a TV Key
owned by a broadcaster is that the viewer is returned
to the channel and connected by Freefone to the TV
Site. This ‘Key and See’ capability essentially makes
TV Keys work across different TV distribution networks, it possible for channels to become interactive at a
on recorded content, after the advert or programme is fraction of the costs of operating their own broadcast
finished, and even in off-line marketing communications. interactive infrastructure
They can also be embedded in on-demand and
• Content owners can use TV Keys in TV advertising and
broadband video.
programming, promoting specific interactive services to
Miniweb’s ability to provide this cost-effective solution their audience without taking them away from the
for connecting TV audiences with interactive services TV environment
removes the limitations associated with the red button
for all platforms, in a non-technological way. Being able What is the future of interactive TV?
to drive traffic from programming is the last component
With a step change in the economics surrounding
in making interactive TV affordable and profitable.
interactive TV, which includes the provision of a video
rich consumer experience, we will see an explosion of
Affordable interactive TV – NOW!
interactive content services.
While some of the capabilities discussed in this paper
As this interactive content is created, it will increasingly
require broadband-enabled TV devices in order to be fully
be associated with all types of video and TV
realised, Miniweb is already applying these principles
entertainment, providing additional revenue streams to
across the Sky platform in the UK, making interactive
support a re-invigorated interactive industry.
TV on Sky more affordable than ever before.
It has always been clear that the more entertaining an
interactive application or service is, the better viewers
8

9. react to it, and broadcast interactive advertising who may recommend and share things that audiences
locations often include extended video clips related to would not otherwise watch.
the product or service being advertised. The consumer
TV is changing in nature - there will soon be no
can then use the interactive application to select and
reason why all content should not have some form of
view relevant video segments. The costs of provision
interactivity available. Broadband-enabled websites
have been very high, due to the nature of the service
could also become indistinguishable from traditional
occupying significant broadcast bandwidth. Yet, for the
interactive TV channels, with TV Keys becoming
largest brands and channels, such models have been
equivalent to interactive channel numbers.
able to deliver value and have proved to be very popular
with consumers.
Conclusion
So, the economics of interactive TV fundamentally differ
between broadband and broadcast. With broadband:
• Many more devices can be reached with the
same development effort, due to the benefits of
interoperability based on standards
• The authoring costs of interactive TV are as low as
web technologies allow
The combination of TV Sites and broadband video
delivers the equivalent of a video rich dedicated
• There are negligible costs in the testing, deployment
advertiser location (DAL) at a fraction of the price of
and ‘transmission’ of the service
broadcast delivered interactivity. Broadband-enabled
TV devices may not always be able to display broadcast • The fundamental entertainment experience of
quality video over the public internet, but pulling small viewers is enhanced
clips as part of an interactive TV Site is simple to
These factors will allow the benefits of interactive TV,
achieve. This essentially enables any web streaming
previously only within the reach of large broadcasters
infrastructure and site to host a DAL for a brand owner
and brand owners, to be achievable for all content
24/7, and make it available as part of an interactive TV
owners, whatever their business models.
advertising campaign.
Right now, the interactive TV business is entering
Catch-up TV services delivered over the public internet
a completely new era that will be characterised by
to PCs are a stepping stone to true broadband TV. In a
massively reduced costs for broadcasters,
recent survey by the Diffusion Group in the USA which
programme makers and advertisers who seek deeper,
asked, “Where do you want to watch your catch-up TV
more meaningful and more lucrative relationships with
services?”, 85% of respondents said, “The living room”.
TV viewers.
For broadcasters it makes sense to deploy catch-up TV
With interoperable content and broadband service
services as an interactive extension to their linear TV
delivery, we will see an explosion of content designed
channels, directly to broadband-enabled TVs.
and optimised for the 10-foot user experience of the
The Miniweb platform makes it possible to simply plug television screen. Advertisers and broadcasters can
in any internet hosted video archive as searchable use broadcast programming, traditional 30 second
entertainment content available directly on CE devices. advertising spots or sponsorships to drive audiences to
interact with media rich TV Sites via the home network
Search and explore will become more important, as
and the internet.
will localisation and personalisation. The TV viewing
experience can be extended to support a wider viewing As this occurs, a new TV experience will emerge, where
community made up of friends in different locations, broadband video augments and enhances traditional TV,
9

10. “TV Keys will become the de facto call to action,
embedded into a broadcast television stream, and
will replace call to actions that disconnect the
viewer from the TV screen”
driven by an inherently interactive consumer electronic
device, and where any form of web-style transactional or
personalised service can be made available.
TV Keys will become the de facto call to action, The use of standards, and the adoption of the Miniweb
embedded into a broadcast television stream, and will platform, enables all this and more. For the broadcaster,
replace call to actions that disconnect the viewer from network or device owner and brands/advertisers, the
the TV screen. This is a pragmatic and cost-effective only barrier now is having the creativity to use this new
alternative to the red button type iTV for all content medium to best support their business.
owners, providing a programme-related call to action,
but without the need for the sophisticated iTV/
broadcast stream.
By enabling a mass market of interactive TV content
through economically authored and cheaply deployed
services with higher traffic volumes, Miniweb expects
to increase the effectiveness of interactive TV for all
content owners. With the key metrics of cost-per-device
and return on investment having changed beyond
recognition, iTV is set to become a completely different
business proposition.
Some things do remain the same, of course. Interactive
TV will still work best when it is wrapped around
relevant content, so on-air programming and advertising
will continue to deliver the calls to action that drive
consumers to interactive applications.
The large volumes of eyeballs and usage will still be
derived from ‘real’ broadcast TV. Social, family-oriented
entertainment will still be the role of the TV set in the
corner of the living room. But the logical and inevitable
use of broadband connections and the availability
- at last - of an efficient and truly interoperable TV
applications programming environment, means that just
about everything else has changed.
Consumers will benefit from a converged broadcast
and broadband entertainment experience. In this
environment, interactivity is within reach of even
the smallest companies; it can be localised down to
the postcode level, applications can re-use internet
applications and can be written once and deployed on
many platforms.
10

11. miniweb
interactive
Find out how Miniweb is defining the
interactive TV experience at www.miniweb.tv
or call us on +44 (0)20 8232 2020