“Electronic Program Guides” (or EPGs) in the digital TV space evolved out of necessity in the mid-1990s. The arrival of digital TV meant a need to manage choice of 100 or more broadcast channels, and in most cases new pay TV products such as NVOD (Near Video on Demand) digital radio and interactive services.

The DVB standard adopted in most of the world, also throughout the 1990s, offers the most basic form of on-screen text information on the title of the current and next program, and a mini-synopsis of the content of those programs. However most Pay TV operators have chosen to provide a more comprehensive seven day guide through custom-built applications.

In some markets, such as digital satellite TV in Germany or 'Freeview' Digital Terrestrial TV in the UK, each guide application is the responsibility of the set-top-vendor, providing a standard DVB application as part of the basic feature-set of the box.

Many operators in Europe and the US have chosen the OpenTV middleware and created their own guide applications in-house or with the assistance of various guide application developers.

OpenTV-based guides in deployment around the world include Dish Network (USA) BSkyB (UK) ExpressVu (Canada) Multichoice Africa (Sub Saharan and South Africa) Nova (Greece) Sky Italia (Italy) Viasat (Scandinavia) TPS (France) Digiturk (Turkey) Foxtel (Australia) Austar (Australia) Starhub (Singapore). (See examples which can be found on in our EPG Gallery.)

 

Except for the arrival of the PVR (Personal Video Recorder) or DVR (Digital Video Recorder) there has been little change in the fundamental principles of EPG design in the last ten years.

However, with the ever-increasing array of content now available from both TV and the web, and with the proliferation of devices, big changes are ahead as advanced guide products begin to be introduced that incorporate more sophisticated forms of search and personalization.