The Service List Registry operates an international Central Service List Registry or CSR to enable the discovery of audiovisual media services.
The Central Service List Registry provides a well-known address that can be used to look up the locations of services. It functions as an online directory to enable the dynamic discovery of services.
The registry essentially provides a list of lists from which devices, displays, and applications can discover services and present them to users. It allows media providers, service operators, and the services they offer to be discovered based on location, language, and display capabilities.
The service discovery query mechanism avoids the need for the locations of services to be hard-coded into devices, displays, and applications.
With tens of thousands of services available around the world, such a system is essential to support an open competitive market for audiovisual media services.
The term Central Service List Registry implies a single monolithic list of services but this is not the case and would be operationally and politically impractical.
Rather than being a centralised system, the Service List Registry operates as a federated directory service. This allows media providers and service operators to manage the configuration of their own services and service lists.