Panasonic parent, Matsushita Electric, has incorporated an integrated browser it jointly developed with Open TV into all Panasonic Viera digital televisions and OEM digital set-top boxes, now being distributed in Japan. The browser is capable of BML 3.0 (Broadcast Markup Language) and HTML 4.0 (Hyper Text Markup Language) content. BML is used solely in Japan, while HTML is used in most other countries. The shipments represent the first large-scale distribution within Japan of television sets capable of providing digital content via broadcast, ADSL or Ethernet connections.
Digital terrestrial broadcasting began in Japan Dec. 1, 2003. The government and mandated that television sets capable of decoding digital terrestrial signals must also be able to browse BML 3.0 content, the standard markup language for interactive data services for digital terrestrial broadcasting in Japan. Additionally, the browser meets NetTV Association specification requirements.
