The BBC-led IPTV joint venture Project Canvas has claimed that it had gained phenomenal support from more than 40 organisations, and they represented a wide range of consumer device manufacturers.

The claim is a huge step forward for the controversial Project Canvass, which is joint venture among BBC, BT, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, Five and Arqiva, as the project is being challenged by Virgin Media and Sky.

Responses from the consumer device manufacturers that are supporting the venture are being tested by the project.

It followed Project Canvass’ August call for expressions of interest from manufacturers to manufacture a Freeview based PVR.

The controversial project is getting the technical specifications for the platform ready and is likely to declare its hardware partner later this year. The software for the platform is expected to be released to partners in 2011.

Project Canvas Director Richard Halton said that they had plans to fetch internet-enabled set-top boxes and televisions into people’s homes by the end of 2011.

Commenting on the topic, Mr. Halton said, “The response from industry has been phenomenal, and we’re really excited by the strong desire to work with Project Canvas to bring internet-enabled set-top-boxes and TVs into people’s homes next year.”

Meanwhile, broadcasters Virgin Media and Sky are challenging Project Canvass, claiming it would hurt competition in the market.