The head of Freeview has announced that existing customers will still be able to use an electronic guide if their equipment currently supports it, but won’t be able to use any of Freeview’s additional features.
This week, Freeview CEO Robin Parks said that existing equipment would not be backwards compatible with the Freeview-branded EPG due for release in 2009.
However, Parkes has now clarified that while only Freeview-branded products would be able to display the Freeview-branded EPG, existing equipment should still receive some form of guide information.
“It’s like an iPod, the same basic functionality will continue to work for the life of the product,” she said.
Parkes was unable to elaborate on what extra functionality would be added as the “specifications are still being worked out”.
She also added that Freeview was in talks with TiVo to release a co-branded version of the EPG for use with the video recorder.