Project Canvas, the IPTV joint venture led by the BBC, has today formally invited “expressions of interest from consumer equipment manufacturers to develop and bring Canvas devices to market in 2011”.


The idea behind Project Canvas – which partners the BBC with BT, ITV, Channel 4, Arqiva and TalkTalk – is to bring internet services and video-on-demand to the Freeview and Freesat TV platforms.


“Canvas is stepping up its engagement with industry as we get closer to releasing the final set of technical documents to the Digital TV Group (DTG) this month, and launching a consumer product next year,” said Project Canvas director Richard Halton.


"Bringing on board further consumer equipment manufacturers will ensure people have the widest possible choice of devices and we remain focused on supporting the industry to stimulate a competitive market. We continue to work closely with the DTG to develop common standards for connected-TV," he added.


Makers who are interested in producing Canvas-enabled equipment should contact the Project Canvas programme team by email at contact@projectcanvas.info by 5pm on August 25.


More information can be found under Device Manufacturers in the Industry & Technology section of the Project Canvas website at www.projectcanvas.info/index.cfm/technology/device-manufacturer.