Bachelor Project Telematics Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV
Elger van der Wel, University of Twente (s0114901)
In partnership with: NPO (R&D department of the direction Distribution, Technology en Broadcasting)
Oktober 2011 Table of contents
Table of contents ...... 2
Foreword ...... 4
Introduction ...... 6
1. Background ...... 7 1.1. Internet and television ...... 7 1.2. Hybrid broadcast broadband television ...... 8 1.3. HbbTV ...... 9
2. The project ...... 10 2.1. Consortium ...... 10 2.2. Progress ...... 15
3. The standard ...... 16 3.1. The Model ...... 16 3.2. The Specification ...... 19 3.3. Application Lifecycle ...... 20 3.4. User Experience ...... 26
4. The manufacturers ...... 30 4.1. The set-top boxes market ...... 30 4.2. HbbTV implementation in September 2010 ...... 31 4.3. Philips ...... 31 4.4. Metrological ...... 32
5. The service providers ...... 33 5.1 The Dutch market ...... 33 5.2. Ziggo ...... 33 5.3. UPC ...... 34 5.4. KPN ...... 34
6. HbbTV in practice ...... 36 6.1. NPO Portal ...... 36 6.2. Teletext ...... 38 6.3. Cooking show ...... 39 6.4. Voting ...... 40 6.5. Roland Garros ...... 41
2 6.6. Second screen ...... 42
Conclusion ...... 43
Terms and abbreviations ...... 45
Sources ...... 46
3 Foreword
When I was ready to start with my bachelor project, I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to do something with the NPO, the Dutch public broadcaster. My bachelor program Telematics was a ‘free’ program, with some courses of communication studies and psychology, all about media, because I’m interested in the use of modern communication technologies in the (traditional) media industry. Therefore doing a research project with the NPO, was logical.
The NPO provided a few subjects for a research and out of those I choose HbbTV as the subject for my bachelor project. HbbTV is a new technology to enrich television channels/shows with interactive content via the internet. The focus of the research was placed at the practical side of the implementation of the technique because this is very complex. A lot of companies are operating in the market: broadcasters, service providers and manufacturers of devices. Therefore it became an unusual research project for a bachelor Telematics. More about the research question I composed and the research methods I used can be found in the next section.
I started my research in November 2009. My plan was to do my research in 8-9 months, because I had to finish some last courses and I was working as a journalist at the NOS besides my studies. Because of some setbacks, the research itself took a bit longer in the first place. In fall 2010 I finished the research part, but I was only halfway with the report at that moment. Because I started as a fulltime editor at the NOS at that moment, finishing the report took a lot more time than I had planned. But two years after I started, it is finally finished.
In this report, I will guide you through the results of my research. First I will sketch the background of (interactive) television, and second I will focus on the organizational aspect of the HbbTV project and the technical details of the standard. One chapter will be about what the manufacturers think about HbbTV, the other one about the service providers. The last chapter is about the possibilities of using HbbTV in practice. The whole research is focused on the implementation of HbbTV in the Dutch market.
At the end I will try to answer the research question, but without giving the NPO an advice, because advising was no the goal of my research. The NPO can use my research in the decisions they make about HbbTV.
Finally, I would like to thank some people. At first: Pieter-Tjerk de Boer, my supervisor at the University of Twente, who helped me with my unusual project. Despite the fact that the subject was far from his daily work, he was always very interested in my
4 research. And the fact that the subject was not common for him was helpful because he could mark the things I had to explain better. At the University of Twenty I also would like to thank Aiko Pras for being part of my research committee. At the NPO I would like to thank Bram Tullemans. He helped me by providing me with lots of material to read and people to interview and was a kind of guide through the woods of the broadcast industry. I have got some words of thanks for Egon Verharen from the NPO too. He helped me in the first place to do my bachelor project with the NPO. Some special words of thanks are for my girlfriend Nelleke Poorthuis, because she read my whole report to mark all my bad English. And of course to all the people who I interviewed and the people who supported me during my research: thank you!
5 Introduction
The goal of this bachelor project is to answer the following research question: What is the position of television service providers and manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes in relation to the implementation and/or use of HbbTV and which possibilities does this give the NPO? To answer this question, a for computer science unusual kind of research was needed.
The first step was to compose some sub questions:
1. What are the technical characteristics of the HbbTV-standard and how is it established? 2. What are the developments in the field of HbbTV, nationally and (if relevant) internationally? 3. What is the position of manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes in relation to implementing the HbbTV-standard in their products? 4. What is the position of service providers of digital television in relation to providing HbbTV-content via their network? 5. Which possibilities for content does HbbTV give to producers and broadcasters, especially the NPO?
The research to answer these questions consisted of the following steps:
• Multiple interviews with Bram Tullemans, senior policy adviser at the R&D department of the direction Distribution, Technology and Broadcasting of the NPO • Literature study about HbbTV (including a lot of presentations in the field) • Studying the HbbTV standard • Interviews with manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes • Interviews with Dutch television service providers • Search for (international) examples of the usage of HbbTV in practice
The result of this research and the answers to the subquestions will be discussed in the next six chapters. The research question itself will be answered in the last section of this report: the conclusion.
6 1. Background
In this section the history of digital television and internet-connected televisions will be discussed. It will go in detail about the problems, the idea of HBB and the standard that this report is about: HbbTV.
1.1. Internet and television
Since the introduction of the television in the 30s, not much changed until a few years ago. We got color television, cable and satellite as distribution channels and the number of channels grew, but in television end it remained the same: linear broadcasts on a limited number of channels.
In the 21st century cable companies (and internet companies) introduced digital television. In the first place it provided more channels and better quality, but something new was added to the service in a next stage: on-demand television. This means: watching television programs and movies whenever you want, accessed via the remote of the television or set-top box. A paid service offered by the service provider of the digital television signal.
In the Netherlands Ziggo, UPC and KPN offer services like this. They all offer paid subscriptions for ‘Uitzending Gemist’, the on-demand platform of the NPO, the Dutch public broadcaster and the possibility to watch paid movies on-demand.
On the other hand we have got the internet. In the annual review from 1996 of the NOS Journaal (the Dutch public news broadcast) we heard: “Integration of television and pc will move the internet from the study room to the living room. This is an important prerequisite to give the internet a prominent role in society.” (NOS, 1996). Perhaps the contrary happened: the internet became bigger and more important than we ever could imagine, but the integration with television did not come.
Nevertheless companies tried to get the web to the television. In 2000 the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF), an alliance of companies and concerns in broadcasting and consumer electronics created a specification that relies on existing and prevalent standards, but it was unsuccessful. In 2002 Broadcast HTML was created from an ATSC-related (a DVB-like standard) work to develop the DTV Application Software Environment (DASE), but it was never really deployed. The latest try was the DVB-PCF standard, which embodies a high-level declarative model, which is based on industry standard formats, including XML syntax, MIME types and UML, but this is never used (Smith-Chaigneau, 2009).
7 In the meantime manufacturers of consumer electronics developed the first televisions and set-top boxes with an internet connection besides a broadcast connection, which were put on the market in 2009. To access the internet they created their own portals and menus with widgets: internet applications that can be accessed through the remote. Not only textual information can be accessed via these internet widgets, but online video (like YouTube) can be watched as well. Last year most televisions in the higher segment had internet-connectivity and a system with widgets (or applications, but in the end these are the same).
Unfortunately these widget systems are not standardized. Every television brand uses it is own systems and if you want to make a widget for it, (which is sometimes something you have to pay for and sometimes simply impossible because the widget system is closed) you need to make a different widget for every brand, because they all use their own API and type of video encoding.
Another problem is the competition, which arises in the content market. In the past a broadcaster brought the content through a service provider to the television. The broadcaster created the channels with their content and a service provider (cable or satellite) made a package of channels, which the consumer has to pay for.
The situation became much more complex with on-demand content. A broadcaster does not need an agreement with a service provider for delivering it is on-demand content to the consumer. The broadcaster can put it on the internet, possibly behind a pay wall. To get that same content on an internet-connected television, the broadcaster has to build a widget for a television of a certain brand and the manufacturer of that television has to agree with that. On the other hand, service providers have their own platforms for on- demand content. Broadcasters have to make a separate agreement with them to get their on-demand content on the platform too.
So a lot of parties became gatekeeper of the content of the broadcaster. Not only the service providers, but also the manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes too. This is something that is becoming a problem for the broadcasters.
1.2. Hybrid broadcast broadband television
The most recent development is hybrid broadcast broadband television (HBB). “HBB is a content distribution platform for signalling, transport and presentation of enhanced and interactive television services and related applications designed for using both a
8 broadcast and internet networks and is running on hybrid terminals that include both a broadcast and internet connection.” (Kozamernik, 2009).
HBB is a solution for the problem with the gatekeepers. If a set-top box or television manufacturer implements a HBB standard, a broadcaster can use this standard to create an internet portal for his broadcast channel including content on demand, if the standard offers that. More about the benefits of HBB for all the stakeholders (including service providers) will be explained in chapter 4 and 5 of this report.
All around the world companies, broadcasters and collaborations of them have been working on implementing the technique behind HBB. An example is the set-top box software MHEG-5, which includes the principles of HBB and is used in satellite set-top boxes of S&T, which are used in the UK, Hong Kong and New Zealand (Cutts, 2009). In the UK the broadcasters BBC, Channel 4 and ITV plc. are working together on Project Canvas (Project Canvas, 2010). But these kinds of initiatives are still not going to bring an international standard for HBB, like the DVB-standards are for digital television.
1.3. HbbTV
In February 2009 two projects were born to create a HBB-standard: the H4TV-project in France and HTML Profile a comparable project in Germany. Not long after the start of both projects they integrated into HbbTV, the biggest project in bringing internet content to the television until today. Goal of the project is to create a pan-European standard for HBB, based on existing standards, which should be used all around the European market (HbbTV Consortium, 2009). To avoid confusion: Hybrid broadcast broadband television (HBB) is the umbrella-term for this technique, explained in section 1.2. HbbTV is the standard this report is about.
9 2. The project
In this section more details about the HbbTV-project, the consortium behind it and the progress will be given.
2.1. Consortium
HbbTV has a large base of consortium members, all across the value chain of television and an even larger list of supporters. A lot of different types of organizations participate in HbbTV. In this section they will be categorized, based on the description the organisations gave on the HbbTV-website (HbbTV Consortium, 2010).
The consortium members are shows in table 1. Public broadcaster c distribution infrastructure hardware middleware software Software online services consultancy research testing association ommercial
broadcaster
top
- level
ANT Software
Limited √
Astra √
Canal+ Group √
European Broadcasting √ Union*
France √ Télévisions
Institut für Rundfunktechn √ ik
OpenTV √ √
Philips √
TF1 √
10 Public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware software middleware Software top online services consultancy research testing association
- level
Sony (joined in September √ 2009)
Samsung (joined in
September √ 2009)
Table 1. Consortium members of the HbbTV project
* Confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters from a further 25. The NPO is part of it.
The official supporters are shown in table 2. public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware middleware software Software top online services consultancy research testing association
- level
Abertis Telecom √
ACCESS √ activa_multimedia digital S.L. √
ActiveVideo
Networks √ √
Alcatel-Lucent √
ALTRAN Telecom &
Media √
11 public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware middleware software Software top online services consultancy research testing association
- level
The Beuth University of √ Technology Berlin
Capablue √ √
Cabot
Communications √
Capgemini sd&m √ √
Cisco √ √ √
Codevise Solutions √
CreNova Technology
GmbH √ √ √
Digital TV Labs √
DiscVision GmbH √ √
Digital TV Group √
Espial Group Inc. √ √
Eutelsat √
Eviado √ √ √
Fraunhofer Institute for Open
Communication √ Systems
Fraunhofer IIS Audio and Multimedia √ division
12 public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware software middleware Software top online services consultancy research testing association
- level
Fulan √ √ √
HTTV √ √
Humax √ √
HyperPanel Lab √ √
Icareus Group √ √ √
IKON Interactive
Digital TV √ √ √
INFONOVA GmbH √ √
Intek Digital √
Inverto Digital labs √ √ iPlus Technologies √
Irdeto √ √
IWEDIA √ √
KAONMEDIA √ √
LG Electronics √ √
NetRange MMH √ √
MStar
Semiconductor √ √
NDS Group Ltd √ √
13 public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware middleware software Software top online services consultancy research testing association
- level
nexx.tv √
NRJ 12 √ √ √
Opentech Inc. √ √
Opera Software √
Reycom √ √ √
Rovi Corporation √
She √ sofatronic √
STMicroelectronics √ √
TARA Systems √
TDF Group √
TechNexion √
Teveo √
Trident
Microsystem, Inc. √ √
TVC
VANTAGE Digital
GmbH √
14 public broadcaster broadcaster commercial distribution infrastructure hardware software Software top online services consultancy research testing association
middleware
- level
TV Genius √
VANTAGE Digital
GmbH √ √
VBox √ √
Vestel √ √
VideoWeb √ √
Zappware √
Table 2. Official Supporters of the HbbTV project
2.2. Progress
After the start of HbbTV in spring 2009, the consortium has worked on the standard for HbbTV, which will be discussed in the next chapter. The consortium made the official public announcement on August 27th.
In November/December 2009 the German Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) announced the completion of the first HbbTV interoperability workshop. Twenty different companies attended the workshop, which included all sort of possibilities for the companies to test applications.
On December 2th 2009, the IRT also announced the submission of the first draft of the HbbTV-standard to ETSI. This organization produces globally applicable standards for ICT, including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, broadcast and Internet technologies (Institut für Rundfunktechnik, 2009).
15 3. The standard
In this chapter the HbbTV standard will be discussed in detail. The whole chapter is based on the 1.1.1 draft version of the standard, which has been submitted tot ETSI at the start of December 2009 (HbbTV Consortium, 2009). This version has been approved by ETSI as ETSI TS 102 796 in June 2010. All the images and tables are based on images and tables in the standard, but are altered to clarify.
3.1. The Model
As explained in chapter 1, HbbTV brings digital television broadcasts and internet content together on the television screen. This television screen is in the end a hybrid terminal, with a DVB-connection and an internet connection. The connections itself do not have to be in the television, but can be in a set-top box too.
Both the digital television broadcast and the internet content come from the broadcaster, who became an application provider too. To indicate which internet content belongs to the broadcaster, an internet address (signaling data) is included in the DVB-signal. It is even possible to include application data in the DVB-signal.
Thanks to the address in the signaling data, the hybrid terminal can load the application data and non-linear A/V content via an internet connection. Because we’re dealing with an internet connection, it is possible to use a back channel to the broadcaster.
16
Figure 1. The global working of HbbTV (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
This whole model is the basic idea of HbbTV and indicates the service that can be delivered with implementing the standard. A graphical representation is shown in figure 1.
The HbbTV standard gives a detailed description about how a hybrid terminal should work. An overview of what the functional components of a hybrid terminal are and a description of how they work together is given in figure 2.
17 Application Application Application
Runtime Environment
Application Manager Browser
Embedding / control
AIT Filter DSM-CC Client Media Player
Internet Protocol Demultiplexing Broadcast Processing Processing
Broadcast Interface Broadband Interface
Legend Broadcast AIT Data Stream Events Broadband Application Data Linear A/V Content Non-linear A/V Content Other Date (e.g. Channel List) AIT Data
Figure 2. How a hybrid terminal works (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
As you can see via the Broadcast Interface four types of signals come in: AIT (Application Information Table) Data, Stream Events and Application Data, which are all HbbTV-content and the Linear A/V Content, which is the ‘normal’ DVB signal. After the signals are demultiplexed, the Linear A/V Content works the same as in ‘normal’ DVB terminals: it is processed and than send to a Media Player. The Channel List and data like that is send directly to the Runtime Environment after the Broadcast Processing.
The Application Data and the Stream Events are transferred using a DSM-CC object carousel. This is a way of downloading content associated with MPEG 2 content. DVB sends the linear A/V Content using MPEG 2, which uses DSM-CC for sending control channels with the stream. With the MPEG 2 object carousel, content can be downloaded together with the MPEG 2 stream, without enabling the download with a request from the client (Balabanian, 1996). To use the data sent using a DSM-CC object carousel, a DSM-CC Client is needed. This client pushes the data to the runtime environment.
18 The AIT Data is the Application Information Table. This data is used to control the lifecycle for an interactive application and is send through the AIT Filter to the Application Manager (which controls the lifecycle for the applications).
Via The Broadband Interface data is coming in from the internet. This is Non-Linear A/V Content (content on demand), Application Data and the AIT Data. The Internet Protocol Processing processes all this data. Then the AIT Data is sent to the Application Manager, the Application Data is sent to the Runtime Environment and the Non-Linear A/V Content is sent to the Media Player.
The Runtime Environment consists of the Application Manager and the Browser. The browser is used for showing all the applications to the user.
As shown in Figure 2, the Applications can be broadcasted together with the DVB-signal, so technically a HbbTV terminal can work without a broadband connection. In practice most channels will make their applications accessible via the internet, so a broadband connection is needed.
3.2. The Specification
The specification of HbbTV is largely based on three existing, open standards: CE-HTML, Open IPTV and DVB. To be specific:
• CEA-2014.A – Web-based Protocol and Framework for Remote User Interface on UPnP Networks and the Internet (Web4CE), also known as CE-HTML • Open IPTV Forum Release 1 Volume 5 – Declarative Application Environment of the Open IPTV Forum • ETSI TS 102 809 (formerly DVB Blue Book A137) Signaling and carriage of interactive applications and services in hybrid broadcast / broadband environments
The relationships between these standards and the HbbTV specification are shown in Figure 3.
19
Figure 3. The HbbTV standard is based on open standards (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
The CE-HTML specification defines the application language (XHTML, CSS and JavaScript including AJAX), embedding non-linear A/V content in an application, DOM event- handling (e.g. key-events) and still image formats. The CE-HTML specification is profiled through the OIPF DAE specification, which provides JavaScript-APIs for application running in a TV environment and embedding linear A/V content in an application. The DVB Blue Book provides application signaling and transport via broadcast or HTTP.
3.3. Application Lifecycle
HbbTV supports two types of applications: broadcast related and broadcast independent. The scope of this report is about broadcast-related application, but it is important to mention that the HbbTV standard indicates how broadcast independent should work on an HbbTV terminal. Broadcast-related applications have their own kind of lifecycles, which are determined by four factors: the application model, the currently selected broadcast service (= channel) and changes to it, the application signalled as
20 part of the currently selected broadcast service and the signalled application control code.
The flowchart in Figure 4 shows the behaviour of a HbbTV terminal when the user changes the broadcast service (e.g. zaps to another channel). This shows how detailed the HbbTV standard goed into how a HbbTV terminal should behave.
21 New Service Selected
yes Was it signaled as yes Is an no Does the terminal have yes service bound on the application already an operational broadband previous service? running? connection?
no no
Discard any apps signaled as broadband- Is it signalled no only and discard broadband-specific in the new service? signalling for apps signalled as both broadband and broadcast yes
yes Is it signalled Kill curently yes Is an application no with the control code running signalled as KILL? application AUTOSTART?
no
Find the highest Application priority continues to run application
Find the DSM-CC Which is the priority application with Done transport? the next highest priority HTTP
Load the app Load the app Is it signalled from the broad- from the broad- in the new service as cast protocol band protocol AUTOSTART? and start it and start it yes
Kill the currently yes Did the application no running applica- load succesfully? tion and restart it
Is the appsignalled no as being available via broadcast?
yes Load the app from the broad- cast protocol and start it
Done
Figure 4 .The behaviour of a HbbTV terminal when the user changes the broadcast service (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
How the HbbTV terminal behaves while a broadcast service is selected can be found in Figure 5.
22
Figure 5. The behaviour of a HbbTV terminal while a broadcast service is selected (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
23 The HbbTV standard gives information about how HbbTV terminals should work in many unexpected cases, like when the broadband connection doesn not work. Such exceptions are outside the scope of this report, but it is important to know the exceptions are defined in the standard.
To round up the whole lifecycle, in Figure 6 some examples of how the application model works for the user are given. In this diagram different states and actions are shown. The figure shows what happens, if a specific action takes place. These actions are shown in Table 3.
Starting State Action Resulting State
Initial State: Application 1: User presses ‘TEXT’ key State 2: Application 2 will be 1 is running (e.g. key to start teletext) started due to Teletext signalling
Initial State: Application 2: User selects service 2 State 3: Application 1 keeps 1 is running running assuming it is not service-bound and Application 3 will be started in the backhround due to AUTOSTART signalling
Initial State: Application 3: User selects service 3 State 4: Application 1 will be 1 is running killed and application 4 will be started due to AUTOSTART signalling, because it doesn’t start in the background
Initial State: Application 4: Application starts State 5: Broadcast- 1 is running broadcast-independent independent application 5 is application (using a running. Any former createApplication() call) presentation of service components will be stopped.
State 5: Application 5 is 5: User selects Service 1 State 1: Application 5 will be running stopped and Application 1 will be started due to autostart signalling.
State 5: Application 5 is 6: User selects Service 4 State 6: Application 5 keeps running running. Due to signalling, presentation of service components starts.
Table 3. The results of the actions shown in Figure 6 (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
24 To clarify: a service is a broadcast channel the user is watching (like BBC 1 or CNN). Most applications are service bound, but it is possible not service bound applications (for example an application from the portal the television manufacturer included) are running too, like App 1 in this diagram. Some applications are automatically started (autostart) when a service is selected, like App 3 in the diagram.
Figure 6. Example of the behaviour of a HbbTV terminal when specific actions are performed (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
The ETSI-standard of ‘Hybrid Broadcast Broadband’ goes into further detail about how the behaviourcaptions can be created and terminated, how the broadcast signaling
25 works and how the system must react on every possible user action. On the other hand it goes in to detail about the applications: what the requirements are for applications, which file formats can be used, etc. The standard describes all these kind of things very detailed, because every manufacturer or developer must implement the standard in the same way to let it work.
Nevertheless some things are not made clear in the standard. The section about the systems video and audio formats consists only of these two sentences: “The present document does not contain any requirements for system, video and audio formats for the broadcast channel. These requirements are defined by the appropriate specifications for each market where the terminals are to be deployed.” This is remarkable because the standard is very detailed. A possible reason is the formats are really different in the international market and in the end the used formats for the broadcast channel has no direct influence on how the HbbTV terminal works.
3.4. User Experience
The HbbTV standard gives broadcaster different ways to show information. In the HbbTV-standard some concept pictures are included to illustrate these different possibilities.
‘Normal’ television just looks like it always has been, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. A ‘normal’ television service (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
A visual prompt can be shown to inform the user that more information is available (like the red button option, some DVB set-top boxes already have. This is shown Figure 8.
26
Figure 8. A visual prompt shows more information is available (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
More information can be shown in an overlay, including pictures, but it is not possible to play audio or video in the overlay in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Overlay with information and a picture (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
Information can be shown full screen too, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Information in full screen HbbTV application (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
And in a full screen HbbTV application, It is possible to add pictures as well as audio and video. This is shown in Figure 11.
27
Figure 11. Full screen HbbTV application with a picture (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
To control the HbbTV-terminal (e.g. the set-top box or television) a ‘normal’ television remote is used, but the standard gives manufacturers the possibility to come up with different controllers. In the standard a list, shown in Table 4, is included of what must happen if a users presses a specific button. Visual xamples are shown in Figure 12 and 13.
Button Event
TEXT button (e.g. Teletext Launches the digital teletext (hbbTV)-application button) and/or the standard teletext. If both are present a modus to toggle between both should be implemented (see figure 12). In the standard all the possible scenarios are described.
Red colored button Displays or hides the broadcasts autostart application (see figure 13)
Green, yellow and blue colored Variable usage as defined by the application button (typically short-cuts or color-related functions)
Arrow buttons (up, down, left, Variable usage as defined by the application right) (typically focus movement or navigation through lists)
ENTER or OK button Variable usage as defined by the application (typically selection of focused interaction elements or confirmation of requested actions)
BACK button Variable usage as defined by the application (typically going back one step in the application flow)
Program selection buttons (to go If available: selects the next or previous broadcast the next or previous channel) service in the internal channel list which may lead to the termination of the running application
WEBTV or comparable button If available: opens a menu providing access to
28 broadcast-independent applications
EXIT, TV or comparable button If available: terminates a running application and returns to last selected broadcast service
Table 4. How a HbbTV terminal should perform when specific remote buttons are pressed (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
Figure 12. The behaviour of a HbbTV portal if the TEXT button is pressed (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
Figure 13. The behaviour of a HbbTV portal if the red button is pressed (HbbTV Consortium, 2010)
The HbbTV standard goes quite into detail about the user experience. Despite the possible ways to show content and the details about the usage of the buttons on a remote, it says (as stated in earlier chapters) a lot about the application lifecycle and about switching between and closing application. This is done because broadcasters and users must be able to rely on how a HbbTV-portal should work.
29 4. The manufacturers
As stated in the first chapter, except for the broadcaster two parties are so-called ‘gatekeepers’ of the internet-content on internet-connected televisions and set-top boxes: the manufacturers of these devices and the service providers. If the HbbTV- standard will be used, the broadcaster can make his own decisions about which internet-content he will deliver to the customers. But to make that possible, the service providers must deliver the DVB-signal unchanged, including the signaling data (see Figure 1). And even more important: TV and set-top box manufacturers must implement the HbbTV-standard. The transmission of the HbbTV signaling is not a possibility of the manufacturers; in the next chapter the focus will be on the service providers, who do that.
4.1. The set-top boxes market
The set-top boxes market is a little complex. Unlike the market for televisions it is not a market where customers buy set-top boxes in stores. Most set-top boxes are distributed through service providers. In that case the service providers determine which functionality a set-top box should have and which it should not have. So if service providers do not want HbbTV implemented in the set-top box, they deliver to their customers, it is simply not included.
Still, a part of the set-top boxes market consists of so called ‘over-the-top’ set-top boxes, which are sold to customers through normal shops (retail). Customers can put the smartcard of their service provider in set-top boxes to watch television. The manufacturer is free to include all the functionality they want to include. Not all service providers allow people to use ‘over-the-top’ set-top boxes or televisions with a DVB- receiver. So in some cases the service provider has complete control of the functionality their customers get.
An increasing proportion of the televisions have DVB-tuners build in. With a so-called CAM-module customer can put a smartcard of their service provider in their television and watch digital television without a set-top box. In this case the same applies as with the ‘over-the-top’ set-top boxes: the service providers can prohibit the use of tuners in televisions.
As stated in the introduction of this chapter, more about the service providers can be found in the next chapter.
30 4.2. HbbTV implementation in September 2010
In September 2010 almost all the set-top boxes en television manufacturers showed their new products and plans for the upcoming year at the IBC Exhibition in Amsterdam. At that moment the Turkish company Vestel was the most concrete with their plans. They implemented HbbTV in their over-the-top set-top boxes and were planning an introduction in November 2010. Philips, Humax, Loewe, Metz, Toshiba and LG had plans for implementing the HbbTV in their set-top boxes and/or televisions too, but these plans were not really concrete at that moment.
At that moment Samsung, Sony and Panasonic did not implement HbbTV. These three companies did not have concrete plans for HbbTV and were following the developments in the market. The fact that these companies have their own internet portals on their products plays along with that. Sisco does not have any plans with HbbTV in September 2010. The company only produces set-top boxes for service providers and is not operating in the market of over-the-top set-top boxes. They said that none of service providers asked for HbbTV in set-top boxes. (Manufacturers, 2010)
4.3. Philips
Philips is one of the pioneers in the market of internet-connected televisions (they do not produce set-top boxes). The company started a pilot project in Amsterdam with 300 households in 2006. Out of this pilot they started Net TV: a portal with internet applications. These are text and image based applications with information and services (news, weather, social networking, food ordering etc.) and video services. The system is not ‘open’, which means content owners need to start a partnership with Philips to be part of the NetTV portal.
Since 2009, Philips focused on expanding the video services with so-called catch-up TV from Dutch broadcasters. They launched a NOS service in the first quarter of 2010, RTL Gemist followed a month later and at the end of that year they launched Uitzending Gemist. Net TV also has other TV services, like VARA, AVRO Klassiek and Cartoon Network.
In 2009 Philips started to talk with German and French broadcasters about hybrid broadband broadcasting. The company decided to participate actively in the development of HbbTV. NetTV already uses the same techniques as the HbbTV does: a CE-HTML browser and Open IPTV for video. So it was relatively easy to add HbbTV to their televisions.
31 In the Netherlands Philips started HbbTV pilots with Moore Flevoland and the NPO. They decided not to use the signaling function in the pilot, because that would require major changes at the side of the broadcaster and the service provider must send the DVB-signal including the HbbTV-signaling to users. So to make the pilot a lot easier, Philips and the broadcasters decided to use channel recognition in the television and connected a channel to a URL of a HbbTV-application. Philips was satisfied with the results of the pilot and in October 2010 they said they wanted to add HbbTV to their television, but at that moment the company did not yey know when.
Philips thinks that all the different manufacturers with their own internet portals and their own standards can be a problem to get a service like HbbTV on all televisions. The company hopes that other companies will start to use open standard like Open IPTV (Cloudt, 2011).
4.4. Metrological
The story of Metrological is a strange one. This small company, based in Rotterdam, produces telemetric solutions. In their spare time they started to experiment with the Intel CE 3100. They succeeded to get really good performances out of this media processor and started to build a set-top box around it. They partnered with Conceptronic to create the Yuixx. This is a hybrid over-the-top set-top box, which consists of a DVB-tuner, a media center to play ‘local files’, a hd recorder and a portal with internet content.
Because Metrological was not operating in the market of media devices until three years ago, they have kind of a different perspective on the market. They wanted to make a product which was as complete as possible: one device to watch or do everthing that is possible on a television. Nevertheless they did not know if they want to include HbbTV in their product (Goedegebuure, 2010).
It is remarkable that a new player in the market, who wants to make a complete product and does not deliver products to service providers, does not know if they want to implement the HbbTV standard, because they have got nothing to lose.
32 5. The service providers
The previous secation was about the manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes. If they implement the HbbTV standard in their set-top boxes, there is still an obstacle before broadcasters can use HbbTV: the service providers. They need to deliver the HbbTV signaling with the DVB signal and it would be quite nice if they will deliver set- top boxes with HbbTV in the future.
5.1 The Dutch market
In the Netherlands almost every home is connected to what is called ‘cable’-television and telephone. In practice the cable connection is used for analog television and DVB-C and for internet using the DOCSIS-standard. The telephone line can still be used for analog calling, but is often used for ADSL-internet. It is possible to watch television with an ADSL-connection using IPTV. On the cable only one service provider is operating in a certain area. The biggest are Ziggo and UPC. On the telephone line you can choose from multiple providers, but only some of them offer television. KPN, which once was the state phone company, is one of the biggest players on the telephone line and was the first with IPTV in the Netherlands. In some cities houses have a fiber to home connection as a third line, but this market is quite small at the moment. KPN is one of the providers offering their services on these fiber lines, including IPTV. Other options for television are satellite (DVB-S) and DigitenneTV (DVB-T). Digitenne is offered by KPN, besides IPTV. DVB-S is offered by CanalDigital.
For this research Ziggo, UPC and KPN were the most important companies to talk with, because they are the three biggest service providers in the Dutch television market. CanalDigital was left out of this research, because the research shouldn’t become to ectensive and the NPO asked to focus on the service providers with a wired network.
5.2. Ziggo
In 2008 three Dutch cable companies (@Home, Casema and Multikabel) merged to one company: Ziggo. As stated in section 5.1, Ziggo offers analogue and DVB-C subscriptions and in addition internet subscriptions. Along with digital television via DVB-C, the company offers interactive television, which is actually a content on demand service. Customers can watch movies, but they can rerun Dutch television programs too (Uitzending Gemist, RTL Gemist and SBS Gemist). For these services customers have to pay an extra fee on top of their ‘normal’ monthly fee.
33 Ziggo thinks internet on television is a natural development and says HbbTV is an extra value for the consumers. But the company says HbbTV must especially be used to add extra content and interactive features to the broadcast and for offering content on demand services like Uitzending Gemist. A logical statement, because at the moment Ziggo makes money with Uitzending Gemist subscriptions and when it is part of HbbTV every customer can watch it for free on their television. For commercial parties adding content on demand to HbbTV portals is not smart, says Ziggo. The company thinks that putting your video content in a HbbTV portal is not the best way to make money.
Ziggo says it is open for testing HbbTV as a pilot. The company does not need to make big technical changes for it, but also stresses that if there are different views on HbbTV between Ziggo and the broadcaster, they have the possibility to delete the HbbTV signaling in the DVB-C signal. The NPO denies that Ziggo is allowed to do that, the contract between the two parties states that Ziggo is not allowed to make any changes to the DVB-C signal of the NPO.
If it is true that Ziggo must pass on the whole DVB-C signal including the HbbTV signaling, Ziggo can not block HbbTV. They can deliver set-top boxes without HbbTV to their customer, but Ziggo gives customers the possibility to use their own set-top box or television with tuner.
Ziggo does not want to say anything about the set-top boxes they are going to use in the future (Renkema, 2010).
5.3. UPC
UPC did not want to participate in this study. They did not yet decide what their view on internet on television and HbbTV is. UPC is known as a company with ‘closed’ television services. They give consumers their own set-top box and it was not possible to use other set-top boxes or televisions with a DVB-tuner. They changed this policy in April 2011, when they started to support DVB-C on television with a DVB-tuner using a CI+-module (UPC, 2011).
5.4. KPN
As explained in section 5.1, KPN has different television products: Digitenne (DVB-T) and ‘Interactieve televise’ on fiber and VDSL (IPTV). ‘Interactieve Televisie’ is not only linear television, content on demand (including Uitzending Gemist) and interactive broadcasts using the red button are possible too. For ‘Interactieve Televisie’ customers
34 cannot use their own set-top boxes, they must use a set-top box delivered by KPN. Digitenne is open and is increasingly used with DVB-T tuners build in televisions.
KPN has no problem with internet-connected set-top boxes, partly because providing content has no distinctive value for the company. KPN wants to provide a competitive offer in a market that is dominated by the cable companies.
KPN keeps an eye on the development of HbbTV and highlights that acceptation in the market is the most important factor for the technique. The company did not decide yet if they want to participate in HbbTV pilots, but they want to pass through the HbbTV signal of the NPO to their customers of ‘interactieve televisie’. For Digitenne HbbTV does not fit in the product they want to deliver, so KPN is not going to do anything with HbbTV actively, but they didn’t say they would filter out the signaling data. (Selgert, 2010).
35 6. HbbTV in practice
The possibilities of HbbTV are almost innumerable. The standard can be used for interaction, providing extra information related to the broadcast, an information service like Teletext, offering videos on demand and so on. In this chapter some examples will be given, to show some of the possibilities.
6.1. NPO Portal
After a pilot the NPO is working on the first version of their HbbTV portal. This portal will be a combination of an interactive TV guide and a video on demand service. When the HbbTV portal (Figure 14) is loaded by pressing the red button, people can navigate between sections with what is broadcasted now, what is up next (Figure 15) and ‘Uitzending Gemist’ (Figure 16). It is possible to navigate using the arrow keys or using numbers on the remote. With the colored buttons two other options can be launched: Mijn TV (Figure 17), which is a personal TV guide and Radio, which makes it possible to listen to the Dutch public radio stations. The portal has the possibility to add extra video content to a broadcast too (NPO, 2011).
Figure 14. The NPO Portal which programs are broadcasted at the moment (NPO, 2011)
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Figure 15. The NPO portal shows what is coming up next (NPO, 2011)
Figure 16 Uitzending Gemist in the NPO portal (NPO, 2011)
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Figure 17. The personal tv guide ‘Mijn TV’ in the NPO portal ( (NPO, 2011)
6.2. Teletext
In Germany, some broadcasters use HbbTV to provide a modern version of Teletext. The kind of information (news, sports, TV guide, service pages, etc.) is the same, but it is presented in a custom layout including pictures. Nevertheless, the page numbers are still used for navigation.
Figure 18 is an example of what the Pro 7 HbbTV Teletext application looks like. The old format with the page numbers and the sections can still be found in the menu on top and the rest of the FrontPage is used for highlighting, just like it always was. Notable is the advertisement on the bottom of the page. For navigation, not only the numbers and the colored buttons can be used, but arrow keys can be used too.
RTL (in Germany) used the same approach for HbbTV application. Figure 19 shows what it looks like. Remarkable is that RTL does not use the page number as the main navigation for the sections (Merkel, 2010).
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Figure 18. HbbTV Teletext of Pro 7 (Merkel, 2010)
Figure 19. HbbTV Teletext of RTL (Merkel, 2010)
6.3. Cooking show
HbbTV cannot just be used for channel portals, but (thanks to the signaling) it can be used for program specific applications too. A good example is the application for the cooking show Côté Cuisine, which is part of the HbbTV prototype of France Télévisions. A screenshot of this show is shown in Figure 20. While watching the show recipes can be
39 found and it is even possible to rerun a video of the preparation. The possibility to e- mail the recipe from the application to yourself is very clever (Tapissie & Fontain, 2010).
Figure 20. HbbTV application of Côté Cuisine (Tapissie & Fontain, 2010)
6.4. Voting
HbbTV not only offers the possibility to provide information, but it can be used for interaction too. A simple example of interaction that already is used often by broadcasters is televoting. Users can vote for their favorite competitor in a talent show by calling or texting, but HbbTV can provide a way to vote using your remote. Not only this kind of televoting is possible, but you can also think of responding to polls in, for example, current affairs shows too. An example of this is shown in Figure 21 (Tapissie & Fontain, 2010).
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Figure 21. Poll in a current affairs show (Tapissie & Fontain, 2010)
6.5. Roland Garros
France Télévisions used HbbTV in practice with the tennis tournament Ronald Garros. In an application, bars with information are added to the left, right and bottom of the screen. The broadcast with the match is still shown in the center of the screen. On the sides, more information about the two players can be found. The bottom is used for statistics of the match. Via a menu at the bottom of the screen, more information about the tournament can be accessed, including pictures and movies (van Drie, 2011).
Figure 22. Extra information via HbbTV at Ronald Garros (van Drie, 2011)
41 6.6. Second screen
The Dutch developer Angry Bytes makes second screen applications for TV-programs. These are interactive web-applications, which can be used on smartphones, tablets and notebooks while watching TV. They can be used to play along with a game, which is done with the TV-show Flashback or a detective, which is done with the detective Case Sensitive. At the moment the whole application is on the second screen, but the company already has plans to use HbbTV too. For example, you can play along with a game with three people on second screen devices, but the local statistics can be shown at the television using HbbTV. This use of HbbTV is still conceptual, but it shows that the technique can used together with applications on second screen devices (Veuger, 2011).
42 Conclusion
The introduction of a technique like HbbTV is very complex, because a lot of stakeholders are involved. The manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes, the television service providers and of course the broadcasters. They all have their own agenda. Service providers want to make money selling the content of broadcasters, but manufacturers are starting operating in the content market too with their own internet portals. Content is what the whole market is about.
Developements
A standard like HbbTV gives broadcasters a chance to enrich their broadcasts with extra interactive content, but when manufacturers implement de HbbTV standard they give a big part of their control over internet content to the broadcaster. They just started in this market and HbbTV can possibly end that before it even really started. The service providers on the internet can not make money on HbbTV content. Nowadays they make a part of their money with subscriptions for on demand content (like Uitzending Gemist in the Netherlands). With HbbTV the broadcaster is free to bring on demand content to the users, without the intervention of the service providers.
But it is not just bad news for manufacturers and service providers. If the HbbTV standard is implemented marketwide, service providers accept to pass on the signal and broadcasters are going to use it, it really enriches the experience of the consumer. And it can be an important step to a more mature market of interactive television.
Manufacturers
Many international companies from the full spectrum of the market, support the idea of HbbTV. And because the EBU (which a lot of the European (public) broadcasters are a member of) is one of the consortium members, the foundation for HbbTV is good. Some manufacturers already implemented it and in some countries it is already used in practice (like with Roland Garros in France in 2011).
Service providers
The role of the service providers is also very important. Not just because they can technically block the HbbTV signaling-data. But they also decide which set-top boxes a lot of people use. In the interviews with some of them it became clear they did not really made up their mind about it yet. They think it is an interesting development and are not
43 negative it, but they do not embrace it too. Because UPC did not want to be interviewed about their opinions on HbbTV, it is even more difficult to conclude this matter.
HbbTV Standard
The standard itself is at least a good basis. It uses open standards that are already commonly used. It gives manufacturers possibilities to make their own internet portals and application next to the implementation of HbbTV, but on the other hand it dictates them very detailed on how the technique should be implemented, so broadcasters and users know what they can expect.
Possibilities
HbbTV gives the broadcasters and program producers a lot of options to create extra and/or interactive content for their broadcasts. Sport matches can get extra statistics, talk shows can get extra video content and games can get an interactive element. These are just some examples of what can be done with HbbTV. It gives the broadcasters a lot of freedom to create what they want and a way to get it to the end users very easily. But if this end user, the customer eventually really receives it, is up to the market.
Round-up
The market is in this case the service providers and manufacturers of televisions and set-top boxes. They didn’t fully decide wath their position in relation to the implemation and/or use of HbbTV. Some manufacturers are already implementing it in their set-top boxes and some of them are waiting if it will become a widely accepted standard or didn’t even though about it yet.
The service providers aren’t very enthusiastic, but they aren’t negative too. Their position really depends on what’s in it for them in the end, because if broadcaster are going to use HbbTV to bring on demand content to the customer, the service providers can’t make money with that anymore. Maybe a good plan and some clear agreements can pull them over the line.
44 Terms and abbreviations
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting, a suite open standards for digital television.
DVB-C Digital Video Broadcasting – Cable, open standard for digital television over cable
DVB-S Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite, open standard for digital television using a satellite connection.
DVB-T Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, open standard for digital television through the air
Linear Content which is presented in a way without any navigational control for content the viewer (like normal television: you can not control when a program starts and you can not pause, forward, or rewind the content)
Non-linear Content which is available on-demand. So the viewer has navigational content control (like videos on the internet)
Set-top box A device that is used as a tuner for digital television. It receivers a signal via cable, Ethernet, satellite and/or ether (in most of the cases using on of the DVB-standards) and delivers an output which can be attached to a TV or other display device.
45 Sources
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46 http://tech.ebu.ch/webdav/site/tech/shared/events/hbbworkshop09/present ations/ebu_hbbworkshop09_presentations.zip • HbbTV Consortium. (2009, December 1th). Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV Standard. Retrieved 12-01-2009, from Draft ETSI TS 102 796 V1.1.1. • Selgert, F. sr Innovation Manager, KPN. (2010, August 4th, interview) • Tapssie, F., & Fontain, B. (2010, September 13th). Status HbbTV in France. HbbTV Working Lunch . • Merkel, K. (2010, September 13th). Implementations in Germany. HbbTV Working Lunch • van Drie, L. (2011, June 4th). De technologie achter Roland Garros. Retrieved 06- 26-2011 from Tweakers: http://tweakers.net/video/3208/video-de- technologie-achter-roland-garros.html • NPO. (2011, June 18th). Omroep.nl Basecamp. Retrieved 05 29, 2011, from UG | HbbTV: https://omroepnl.basecamphq.com/projects/3901543-ug-hbbtv/ (login) • Veuger, M. Co-owner Angry Bytes. (2011, June 20th, interview). • UPC. (2011, November 4th). UPC biedt klanten nu ook digitale televisie via CI+ Module. Retrieved 05-06-2011 from UPC: http://overupc.upc.nl/nieuws/persberichten/2011/upc-biedt-klanten-nu-ook- digitale-televisie-via-ci-plus-module/
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