HTML5 predicted to be the future of TV

Back in May 2011 we wrote a blog about how we were designing with the future in mind using HTML5. You can read the full article here <<link>>, but it looked at how the web was about to experience a huge makeover thanks to the boom in mobile devices as well as the development of HTML5 and CSS3. We were saying goodbye to the days of a uniform, one-size-fits-all approach and looking to the future of responsive web design.

Two years on and it’s now pretty widely accepted that HTML5 is also the future of mobile. For example, free software provider Mozilla debuted its Firefox OS web browser only a couple of months ago, with this new mobile platform built entirely on open web standards including HTML5 launching on handsets from ZTE and Alcatel.

Mozilla wants to power the switch from feature phone to smartphone with Firefox OS. It’s a noble idea. Billions of people are currently priced out of the smartphone market all over the globe and it claims Firefox OS will get them online and using smartphones for the first time.

What isn’t perhaps so widely discussed is that HTML5 is the future of TV too.

YouTube recently took advantage of the technology to launch the free-to-air satellite TV service, Freesat, as part of its plan to position itself as a platform for premium, broadcast-quality content. Built in HTML5, Freesat is designed to provide a ’TV-optimised’ viewing experience via a set-top box, meaning YouTube is now officially available on a subscription-free UK TV platform.

Freesat is a fast-growing player in the broadcast market with three million boxes sold in the last four years and it too has built its hybrid broadcast broadband offering on HTML5. In the process it has make the integration of third-party content and services into connected TV services potentially far easier.

Ben Halliday, oneagency.co’s senior developer, sees web standards breaking down the barriers between the linear TV experience and an on-demand web experience. “TV built on open web standards is a great thing and will speed up the development of connected TV experiences,” he says. “The fact that there are a few industry-wide initiatives taking place to help drive the adoption of open web standards into TV further cements its future.”

In summary: the future is HTML5. And if you want to make sure you’re following the trend and maximising on the latest proven technology, give us a call on 01603 252555.