The BBC is encouraging TV and set-top box makers to adopt an open IPTV platform it hopes to develop. At Cannes’ Mipcom conference Wednesday, future media and technology director Erik Huggers said the broadcaster is mulling building an “open industry standard” that would put web video on the lounge TV. Crucially, it would allow rival program-makers to add their own content, too.

Huggers: “Box manufacturers can add this capability, that adheres to the standard, to the box. You could talk to Philips or Pioneer or Sony, who are adding internet to television sets. It’s the last bastion - it’s about getting in to the living room with the richness and community features that the web offers with the viewing quality from a larger device. Because it’s an open service, any company could build an app for the platform.” other platforms like Joost or Dailymotion “could publish to it as well, it would give them a clean path in to the living room” - raising the tantalizing prospect of taking on to the big screen the new-wave web TV platforms, who are fast gathering up video content but are currently tied to the desktop and which offers competing standards and platforms. More detail at paidContent:UK...