Data preparation for interactive electronic program guides

This paper defines the role of a clearing house providing TV listings to electronic program guide service providers. It provides an overview of the work that Infomedia SA does in terms of collection, processing, formatting and consistently applying program genre classifications to listings across a group of channels. The clearing house acts as the filter through which the data can be delivered in many different user-specific formats; ranging from print publishers´ needs to digital electronic program guide providers, including DVB service information. What services do such companies provide and what standards exist or still need to be defined? How do they assist service providers with the DVB-defined “service information” data stream for EPGs? And how does the concept translate also to other types of information-based interactive applications?