If You Build It With EBIF, Will Interactive TV Come?
The U.S. cable industry is rallying around an enhanced TV (ETV) technology known as Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) to jump-start its long-sought ambition to bring interactivity to the TV set.
According to the new Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider, "EBIF: Cable's Practical Approach to Interactive TV," EBIF activity has exploded in recent months, as cable operators, network programmers, suppliers, and other parties look to use EBIF's simple interactive capabilities as a step toward more robust ITV with tru2way.
Cable MSOs are quickly adding EBIF capability for point-and-click activity with a TV remote, including instant information, polling, requests for information (RFIs), telescoping to on-demand content, and – most important – interactive advertising and t-commerce. While tru2way requires new set-top boxes, cable operators can add EBIF to legacy digital set-tops and remain competitive with Verizon Wireless FiOS TV, which has used its own version of EBIF to launch a wave of widgets.
The report includes updates of industry activity, projections of EBIF deployments, analyses of the prospects and challenges of using EBIF, and profiles of 19 suppliers that are supporting EBIF. According to the report, EBIF activity has shifted into high gear, including these highlights:
- MSOs plan to enable about 15 million set-top boxes for EBIF in 2009, an amount that could nearly double in 2010. (Note that the figure is for devices, not homes, and that it may take several months before "enabled" boxes are lit with applications.)
- A new version of technical specs, IO5, is being planned for 2010 to expand EBIF's capabilities, according to sources.
- Canoe Ventures LLC , the MSO-backed advertising company, plans to deploy an EBIF-enabled interactive ad tool in the fourth quarter, sources say.
- A consortium of cable organizations, spearheaded by Canoe, is developing a new brand identity to promote cable ITV awareness and usage.
- Major programming networks are developing more EBIF-based bound apps in programming and are conducting field trials.
- CableLabs is providing an ETV Test Suite and ETV Test Lab, and suppliers are offering new development kits, training programs, testing tools, and labs.
- Suppliers are seeking to use EBIF's interactive functionality as a gateway to more robust platforms for IP content, cable and mobile phone features on TV, video-on-demand, social networking, and advanced advertising.
- Five MSOs are backing the OCAP/EBIF Developer Network (OEDN), an online forum to support application development and include university participation.
- EBIF was a dominant theme on the exhibit floor of the recent 2009 Cable Show.
EBIF represents the most promising opportunity for cable to deploy ITV on a broad scale, the report says. Yet developers are forced to grapple with EBIF's technical challenges and the limited capability of the legacy set-tops for which it is designed. EBIF will serve as a warmup for tru2way, where richer apps can flourish in a Java-based OCAP environment.
Sources say the coming IO5 specs, among other things, will be designed to address unbound apps – those that roam free of a particular TV channel. MSOs are using different EBIF user agents – the software engines that enable apps and features – for unbound apps. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is using the EBIF platform from TVWorks LLC ; Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) is using its own user agent in tru2way boxes and BIAP's agent for legacy set-tops. These differences could undermine the ability of application developers to "write once, run anywhere" across cable's EBIF platform.
Business issues also loom large, the report explains. Cable operators, programmers, and third-party developers need to work out the terms for apps to get onto cable. Some insiders hope that the common goal of interactive advertising will help prevent operators and programmers from dragging ITV apps into protracted carriage negotiations. Others in cable would like to see the industry follow the model of the mobile business, in which carriers provide developer kits and guidelines for the inclusion of apps in apps stores, and then share the proceeds.
For cable and its suppliers, EBIF activity is an important precursor for the tru2way marketplace. It is like playing regular-season games in anticipation of the playoffs. The report concludes that the ultimate winners will be those that use EBIF capability in a simple and convenient way to build an audience base, and then find ways to monetize that base through ITV apps or the added value that can be brought to bundled packages and cross-platform services.
— Craig Leddy, Contributing Analyst, Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider
The report, EBIF: Cable's Practical Approach to Interactive TV, is available as part of an annual subscription (6 bimonthly issues) to Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider, priced at $1,295. Individual reports are available for $900. For more information, or to subscribe, please visit: www.lightreading.com/cable.
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