Developing applications for digital TV using the M-DTV/sup TM/ platform

The television business is changing. In the US for example, the networks are already broadcasting digital TV and in the year 2006 there will be no more analog TV programs. This new type of TV transmission has created new technical challenges like MPEG decoding that need new and complex hardware/software systems. There are also new opportunities because of the capabilities of the new digital television technologies, like adding an Electronic Program Guide to TV sets. To be successful in this new TV era it is important to have TV hardware and software infrastructure that will do all of the necessary functions to control a TV set. New applications will be added on top of this infrastructure. Motorola has developed the M-DTV/sup TM/ platform, a system that includes all necessary hardware and software to allow one to build a digital TV set with new applications. The paper presents the M-DTV/sup TM/ platform and indicates how applications can be developed for the platform.