DIGITAL development studio Citrus Suite is working with the BBC on a pioneering new project to deliver internet content direct to television screens.

The new Internet Protocol Television Platform (IPTV) scheme, which has the working title Project Canvas, aims to create a standard system of internet-connected set-top boxes.

As part of the project Liverpool-based Citrus Suite is working with the BBC to create a prototype showing how viewers could interact directly with BBC programmes.

Citrus Suite was launched in 2008 by a team of nine artists, designers and programmers.

The city centre-based company is also working on a project for Facebook and will this year launch a new game for the iPad, iPhone, and Nintendo Wii.

Citrus Suite’s development director Chris Morland said: “This is a golden opportunity to collaborate with the BBC and deliver a product using state-of-the-art technology – from a creative point of view this is where we want to be.”

Project Canvas has been created by a consortium of broadcasters and communications firms, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BT, Arqiva, and Talk Talk.

It aims to create a common set-top box that broadcasters and other companies can use, meaning consumers will not have to choose between competing formats.

Viewers should be able to receive the new service through those set-top boxes next year.

On Friday Talk Talk, which employs 1,000 people in Warrington, said it would now “step up planning towards a consumer launch by mid-2011”.

Last month Kip Meek was appointed non-executive chairman of Project Canvas. He said: “Internet technology creates unlimited choice and can also give people real control over what they watch, and when they watch it.

“Project Canvas will integrate the broadcast and on-demand worlds to make this possible via the TV.”

His predecessor Erik Huggers, the BBC’s director of future media and technology, said: “Project Canvas is of huge importance to the digital media industry, as it will secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting in the digital age.

“This is a major moment for a project started by the BBC and developed in partnership with the wider industry.”