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The UK is finally set to adopt the Europe-wide HbTV standard, which will deliver more functionality to its interactive TV services and a seamless customer experience.
What is HbTV?
Hybrid broadband broadcast TV is a standard (ratified by European Telecommunications Standards Institute) established in 2010 to fuse broadband delivery of internet content with digital terrestrial television (DTT).
Why are we talking about it?
The BBC, in collaboration with Freeview, DUK and the DTG, says it will adopt HbbTV in time for consumer equipment manufacturers to build the technology into their 2018 product releases.
Why has it taken them so long?
The UK was the first country in Europe to move to DTT in the mid-1990's, before HbbTV existed. The BBC pioneered the interactive red button service based on encoding format Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group (MHEG). Since then, all connected TVs, set-top boxes and multiscreen devices sold in the UK market (some 100 million) have been required to be built with MHEG-5 in accordance with the DTG's D-Book which sets out the technical specification for DTT in the UK. With the launch of HD on Freeview in 2009 the D-Book was updated but retained MHEG as the underlying technology for interactivity.
What has changed?
A primary aim of HbbTV is to harmonise the manufacturing process for vendors who would prefer not to have to develop different models for different markets. The DTG admits to some pressure on it from manufacturers to adopt the standard, but more importantly, MHEG is no longer fit for purpose.
What is MHEG used for?
As well as red button/digital services, MHEG is currently used for: radio slates – logos and on screen information for audio only services; pop-ups – used during Digital Switchover and retune events to notify the viewer; time-exclusive services – handling services that use the same capacity but at different times of the day; Obfuscation – keeping adult content behind an application to require payment or login; and MHEG Interaction Channel Services – linkages from a logical channel number to IP delivered video services.
Why is MHEG outdated?
MHEG was developed to include an interactive channel based on internet protocols but it is limited in scope, designed to run on very basic devices and is primitive compared to modern browser-based systems. The chief building block of HbbTV, on the other hand, is HTML, universal coding language of the internet.
What else is in the HbbTV technical specification?
HbbTV references existing specs, including CEA, DVB, OIPF, MPEG-DASH and W3C. The latest version 2.0 incorporates web technologies HTML5, CCS3, JavaScript and compression schemeHEVC.
“MHEG requires specialised knowledge whereas HTML offers a more web-like experience and allows applications and services to be developed using widely adopted web skill sets,” explains Simon Gauntlett, CTO, DTG.
Implementation of the specs into hardware is performed by manufacturers and technology suppliers, while broadcasters and producers develop HbbTV compliant apps. There are also apps built in HbbTV which have little to do with TV, such as a gaming portal in Germany.
Where is HbbTV already deployed?
Fifteen countries have adopted HbbTV including France, Germany, Turkey and Spain (but not Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Greece) with over 35 million compatible receivers and 250 apps made with it. According to GfK, more than 60 per cent of televisions sold in Germany are now connected TVs, 92 per cent of which are HbbTV compliant. Portugal and Sweden are trialling Hbbtv. The other chief outlier in Europe has been Italy which rolled out equipment based on MHP (Multimedia Home Platform). Italy, too, is moving to HbbTV. There are also deploymens in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and North Africa.
Illgner heralded the BBC's announcement as “a really substantial move in light of the UK's long tradition in interactive TV. I think it sends out a bold message that it makes sense to agree on a common technology platform.”
Will consumers notice any change?
Ideally, no. MHEG will not be switched off overnight and indeed will exist in parallel with HbbTV for some time. Broadcasters and operators together with equipment manufacturers, must work out when to pull the plug on MHEG so as not to impact on any of the legacy devices in people's homes.
What difference will HbbTV make?
Since the economies of scale of a larger market will make it easier for manufacturers to build product the cost of smart TVs, STBs and other hardware should be cheaper. “However, we don't know the amount that an HbbTV stack makes up of a total bill of materials for any one product so these savings may not be passed on to the consumer,” notes Klaus Illgner, chairman of the HbbTV Association.
HbbTV will also make it easier to write and deploy services such as accessing a website via a red button feature, launching a specific app, or accessing additional video content that can be streamed over-the-top of the broadcast. The W3C WebSocket technology supports second screen interactivity.
“There should be a more seamless interaction between linear and online services and more tools for developers to enhance those services,” says Gauntlett. “The main focus is to make sure viewers get a consistent experience.”
Adds Illgner, “HbbTV has so much functionality that users should be able to use very rich service formats and see fascinating new service formats in time.”
What are the next steps?
The DTG initiated the move with a white paper ‘Towards a Common European Technical Standard for Interactive Services on Free-To-Air TV Platforms’ published in January. Tests of HbbTV 2.0 software incorporating elements required to migrate the UK and Italy are timed to finish this summer. The idea is to enable manufacturers to ensure correct behaviour of the new HbbTV-based services. The DTG will publish the ninth iteration of the D-Book in October containing the new specs. Freeview Play is already based on HbbTV 2.0.
Who is in charge?
The HbbTV Association was launched in 2009, led by IRT, the German institute for television research, and ANT, now part of Espial, and OpenTV, now part of Nagra. Other founding members included satellite operator SES Astra, and French broadcasters France Télévisions, TF1, and Canal+. The DTG has been a member of HbbTV for many years and is on its Steering Board. DTG head of technical development chairs the HbbTV Test Group and the Certification Group.
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