Web TV content is the goal of a Philips, Sharp, Loewe deal

MORE TELLY PROGRAMMES on the interweb through an open common technology platform is the goal of television manufacturers Philips, Sharp and Loewe.

The three companies signed a letter of intent at IFA 2010 to begin sharing technology to build a common platform to make it easier for content providers to work with the industry. The open consortium will be expanded with new partners but Philips declined to tell The INQUIRER what other companies the  consortium is holding discussions with.

Robert Smits, Philips television general manager said in an interview with The INQUIRER, "This letter of intent is to encourage more applications for video on demand, music, gaming, social media and infotainment."

Philips launched its Nettv feature that brings the Internet to its televisons in 2008. Nettv uses the open standard CEHTML. Sharp has adopted Nettv technology for its own products and Loewe has opted for another open standards system.

While Nettv provides a browser that can explore the whole Internet, video on demand services are expected to remain nation specific because of content copyright issues. The letter of intent signing follows Sony's own announcements at IFA about its Internet TV products with a video on demand service that is coming to Europe later this year and a new music download service called Music Unlimited. µ