Technical specialists at BBC news interactive are testing a technology that could allow viewers to access interactive BBC news content via the Internet, writes Will Strauss.

Technical specialists at BBC news interactive are testing a technology that could allow viewers to access interactive BBC news content via the Internet, writes Will Strauss.

Making use of mpeg-4 standard, the trial service will consist of special edition interactive content created by the editors of the BBC's Newsnight programme. The trial will use the Envivio Broadcast Studio, an authoring and compositing tool for creating interactive content, and both live and stored interactive elements will be streamed using the Envivio Streaming Server.

BBC news interactive television development manager Russell Merryman said: "We understand the power of the mpeg-4 standard and its ability to create highly interactive content that is based on a single non-proprietary format. The principle of authoring once and publishing everywhere is becoming a vital part of our production systems for TV, radio and online content."

Web users will be able to view the streamed interactive mpeg-4 content via Windows Media, RealNetworks or QuickTime players using an appropriate plug-in.

BBC news interactive is responsible for the BBC news website. It launched a 24-hour interactive television news service on digital satellite in November 2001, and regularly provides iTV enhancements for a number of BBC programmes on all digital platforms.