Design and Development of a Converged Platform for the Provision of Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) Services

Inhalt:
The real challenge to the growth of (interactive) digital television as a delivery platform for a variety of modern electronic communications and Information Society services lies in finding viable business models, combined with appropriate Internet-based platforms and/or infrastructures. The actual work discusses several perspectives relevant to the expansion, deployment and use of a suitably integrated mediation platform, able to support modern applications and innovative services, towards fully promoting an effective convergence outcome. The solution contributes to the wider economic development by providing an effective means for the initialisation, development and maintenance of a dynamic constellation, delivering value to all the participants in the media and entertainment sector. It introduces a new mediator role that will coordinate the whole market by reducing the current “gap” between demand and supply forces. Within the context of current European policies, we evaluate the fundamental system architecture by analyzing its basic functional components and their functionalities, developed according to the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard. The core-target is the provision of value-added interactive multimedia services (i.e. chatting/messaging, voting, alerting and content recommendations) to users through the constellation of various players with different business objectives, procedures and services. In addition, we examine possible benefits for the market players involved, especially to encourage consumer take-up of digital interactive services, and we conclude with estimations for future development.