What is HbbTV?
For the past few years, Australia's free-to-air networks have all been working on a new broadcast technology called HbbTV, or Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV.
The new service has now finally launched in Australia under the guise of FreeviewPlus, bringing services offered by free-to-air networks up to the same standard as those from Pay TV services like Fetch TV and Foxtel.
But you may be wondering what HbbTV even is? How will you get it? What will it mean for free-to-air TV? Will it cost you? TechRadar has you covered with this guide to HbbTV in Australia.
What is HbbTV?
HbbTV stands for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV, an industry standard for hybrid digital TV.
In simpler terms, it is basically a mixture of digital free-to-air broadcasting and IPTV through a set top box, broadband connection and connected devices.
At it's simplest, it provides an overlay of content delivered through the internet over a traditional free-to-air broadcast.
It also provides an avenue for more content from TV providers to be made available, including traditional broadcast TV, video on-demand and catch-up TV services.
It will all work through either a set top box or an internet-connected Smart TV, with the former having the added benefit of being able to access and store your own digital video content.
While you might be thinking that this sounds very similar to Foxtel's IQ box or Fetch TV, those are limited to paid subscription or which internet provider you use.
HbbTV can also provide enhanced teletext, personalisation and games, as well as having more interactive functions such as voting, interactive advertising and social networking.
In Australia, HbbTV has landed in the form of FreeviewPlus – which has been developed by all the free-to-air broadcasters, including the ABC, SBS, Seven Network, Nine Network, Network Ten, Southern Cross Television and Imparja.
FreeViewPlus
FreeviewPlus is the name given to the HbbTV service in Australia, and was announced back in November 2013.
It is run by Freeview, the free digital television service that provides access to the digital free-to-air channels available in Australia.
According to the Freeview website, FreeViewPlus is "a free-to-air TV electronic program guide incorporating broadband-delivered services that will offer Australian consumers an unrivalled viewing experience."
It incorporates a 7-day, easy-to-use EPG that will allow you to search and browse programs for the next week, and a 'Favourites' function through which you can set reminders.
While catch-up apps for each broadcaster – ABC iView, SBS On Demand, Tenplay, Jump-in and Plus7 - are available on mobile devices and through consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, plus some smart TVs, currently you need to start up each app before accessing any programs.
FreeviewPlus brings all of those services to one place as all catch-up videos and highlights will be easily accessible for all free-to-air channels through its EPG.
According to ABC, the team behind the iView app has also been working on providing on demand and live TV listings for FreeviewPlus.
How to get FreeviewPlus
FreeviewPlus launched on September 2, though it had been facing some delays from the begining of 2014.
SBS launched a beta HbbTV service in June, which was available for customers that had a HbbTV-enabled television connected to the internet, from which users could access SBS On Demand and all of its functionality.
FreeviewPlus is available through TVs, set-top boxes and PVRs, but unfortunately, you may not be able to access HbbTV on your current set up, even if you did just upgrade to digital TV last year with a new purchase.
This is because FreeviewPlus is running on the HbbTV 1.5 standard, and though there are devices and TVs that do support the 1.5 standard, it will need to be certified by Freeview.
The certification, in the form of a FreeviewPlus logo sticker on the device, will guarantee that the device or TV will work with all of the apps from the Australian networks, having gone through approved testing.
Freeview has said that if a device doesn't feature the Freeview logo, but does support HbbTV 1.5, there is no guarantee that it will deliver FreeviewPlus properly.
Which is not a blanket statement that the service won't work, but simply there is no guarantee that it will work.
Freeview stated earlier this year: "Retailers and manufacturers are working closely with Freeview in the lead up to launch in one of the biggest developments in [free-to-air] TV since the introduction of digital multichannels."
At launch, Freeview announced that Sony and LG are among manufacturers releasing FreeviewPlus receivers
There are some Panasonic TVs on sale in Australia with HbbTV 1.5 that were able to support the SBS beta HbbTV service (models TH-32AS610A, TH-42AS700A, TH-50AS700A, TH-55AS700A, TH-60AS700A, TH-55AS740A, TH-60AS740A), but again, there's no guarantee FreeviewPlus will work without fault.
Samsung, TCL and others are pegged to have HbbTV 1.5 TVs available in coming weeks and months.
The competition and the future
Against the competition
FreeviewPlus is set to go up against the likes of Foxtel's IQ box and Fetch TV, though both of the above require paid subscriptions.
Until we have more of a play with FreeviewPlus however, it is hard to judge just how the service will stack up against the more extensive offerings from Foxtel and Fetch TV.
It will be interesting to test how FreeviewPlus handles extensive on-demand streaming, as well as how advertising will continue to be worked through TV shows, documentaries and movies, for both regular live broadcasts and catch-up.
The future of HbbTV and FreeviewPlus
The technology behind HbbTV is still in its infancy, so the implementations we've seen so far limited. The SBS beta service, for example, was simply an overlay of their current On Demand service over a traditional broadcast.
In the future, the overlay could include anything that can be delivered via the internet. That could be a news ticker, a Twitter stream or even multiple camera angles of a sporting event.
The good news is that the FreeViewPlus standard allows a uniform approach for all the Australian networks, rather than having rival technologies compete for similar markets.
It's an exciting development for broadcast television, so stay tuned for more updates on the FreeviewPlus rollout as it happens.
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