TRT launches hybrid services

The Turkish public broadcaster TRT has started hybrid TV services employing HbbTV technology by Sofia Digital.

Known as TRT ARTI (“TRT Plus”), the services are available on its HD channels broadcast via Turksat, which covers Turkey and most European countries, and can be viewed on all HbbTV enabled DVB-S2 receivers.

TRT ARTI is available via a red button and offers wide variety of applications. They include a service menu, EPG, digital teletext and on-demand video services and will be expanded with others this year.

The hybrid platform has been developed by Sofia Digital with its local partner Yol Digital.

Commenting on the services, chief engineer Ruhi Tas, the project manager for the HbbTV project, said: “Sofia Backstage HbbTV platform has been working reliably and enabled deployment of completely new integrated services based on the TRT’s online interfaces.Since the launch TRT ARTI service has gain already more than 300.000 active users, which is a good number of connected TV viewers without any marketing efforts.”