Linux based, free open source software for MHP has also been proposed:

• Alas, when Digital television started in Europe, some companies like OpenTV, Beta Research or Canal+ tried to put a proprietary software layer on top of the open DVB standards. … The openness of MHP therefore largely depends on the openness of JAVA. From: Linux TV The standard for the digital world, linuxtv.org, 2001

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  Notes:

  
  The first Set-Top Boxes on the market were therefore incompatible - electronic programme guides produced for the German market could not be used with French Set-Top boxes and vice versa. As many of us have suspected, no one manufacturer is big enough to impose a proprietary standard on a European or worldwide market. The open standard for content representation on digital television is called MHP (Multimedia Home Platform). MHP is nearly finished by the DVB members and will be an open (ETSI) standard soon. However, MHP is heavily based on JAVA which is under the control of SUN.