The Open IPTV (News – Alert) Forum (OIPF) is taking aim at the connected TV environment with a profile aimed at implementing an HTML5, browser-based application environment for TV-related hardware inside the home.

It’s mean to be a common profile specifically targeted to support interoperability between entertainment services and connected TVs via the Web browser.

"The browser is becoming the industry accepted platform for multiscreen media consumption, and HTML5 has been endorsed by the global technical community as the basis for interoperable services on connected devices,” said Nilo Mitra, president of the Open IPTV Forum. “It was therefore important for the Open IPTV Forum to ensure that retail-connected TVs and STBs, which have been the main focus of the OIPF since its founding, take advantage of HTML5 and the latest Web technologies."

The profile targets the gamut of players: connected TV manufacturers, application developers, and content and service providers. If TV-makers build the spec into the hardware, and developers write for the platform, then the content providers and distributors can implement a seamless, standardized, IP-based way to leverage rich HTML5 applications with linear TV functionality.

Based on the latest stable Web technologies defined by the W3C (News – Alert), the profile avoids extensions or modifications to any of the specifications. Instead, it defines a subset of those specifications that have achieved a high degree of stability for the connected TV environment.

"Web standards have moved on since the first version of our specification was published in 2009,” said Jon Piesing of TP Vision, the technical lead of the group that created the spec. “This work represents a broad update of our browser specification to be based on the new generation of Web specifications, not just HTML5 but also CSS3, DOM3 and a variety of other related technologies. This update should enable apps and services for connected TVs to be developed relying on the presence of a coherent and consistent set of up-to-date technologies. It should make it easier to re-use tools and libraries developed for the Web when developing for connected TVs."