10 Year HbbTV Anniversary Special

Explore HbbTV Milestones

The history of HbbTV begins a few years before 2010. This section features important milestones which paved the way for the ongoing development of the open standard from its beginning until today. One thing becomes clear: HbbTV is an international project, which has its roots in close collaboration by European market players and continues to drive the technical capabilities of broadcast and broadband networks and services.

Before»

IRT presented at an ARD workshop a hybrid conception that besides MHP/JAVA also envisage pure HTML based end devices

Satellite operator ASTRA plans a new interactive device platform based on HTML. In a meeting Astra, Bayerischer Rundfunk and IRT decide for a common approach. Astra and IRT develop an appropriate specification.

First demo based on the Astra/IRT specification is presented at IFA in Berlin at the ARD stand. ARD and ZDF demonstrate first services and first devices are delivered by Technotrend and the browser by ANT.

First meeting at IRT in Munich of the French H4TV project and the German HTML profile project. The result: German and French projects will work on a joint specification.

The new partners select for the new standard the abbreviation „HbbTV“ (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV). The HbbTV logo has been designed by Arthur Mayrand (France Televisions)

HbbTV was first demonstrated at Roland Garros tennis sport event on a DTT transmission and an IP connection by France Télévisions and the two developers of Set Top Box technologies Inverto Digital Labs and Pleyo.

A consortium of broadcasters and technology companies have formally teamed up to launch and develop a specification to harmonise the delivery of content via the internet to connected TVs and set-top boxes.

EBU / ETSI Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Workshop in Amsterdam

The Technical Committee of the European Broadcasting Union has agreed a set of measures for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband (HBB) services and devices.

2010»

Philips, ANT, Sony, Samsung, OpenTV, SES Astra, IRT, TF1, EBU, France Televisions sign the „Carter“ of the HbbTV Consortium. Dr. Klaus Illgner-Fehns, MD IRT (Germany) was elected as First Chairman of the Steering Board is,

Broadcast and Beyond Conference in London

ETSI approved version 1.1.1 of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV specification

At IFA all German public, the leading private broadcasters, arte and the Eutelsat „KabelKiosk“ presented their HbbTV offers. RTL and Pro7Sat1 offers got in regular operation. 10 companies present their HbbTV TV devices. 4 manufacturers presented HbbTV STBs

2011»

TDF, the French transmission company, is running HbbTV over the country’s digital terrestrial network.

Ceska Televize and Antik Technology have teamed up to deliver a HbbTV trial in the Czech Republic.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) adopted a set of Principles for Internet Connected and Hybrid Television.

HbbTV offers were launched or announced in France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Czechia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands

HbbTV Association became a legal company and is open for new regular members.

Germany became first European mass market for HbbTV with a broad number of broadcasters and connected TVs

Spain’s Ministry of Industry approved a document signed by 54 companies adopting the HbbTV standard and broadcasters

HbbTV Association counts almost 60 members.

First HD Forum, Connected TVs Symposium (Paris)

23 members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have agreed to collaborate on the development of hybrid TV to enable a full roll out of the technology next year. The announcement came at the EBU’s 67th annual assembly.

2012»

The second General Assembly of the HbbTV consortium has been held at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. Around 30 delegates heard reports of successful launches for the hybrid broadcast and broadband protocol in France, Germany, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands.

TVN started first tests of HbbTV services in Poland

Version 1.5 of HbbTV Specification Released

ARD and ZDF offered first live streams of the Olympic Summer Games based special streaming configuration developed by IRT

HbbTV Association published its first version of its Test Suite for HbbTV devices.

ETSI pulished a new version of the HbbTV specification („HbbTV 1.5“) that complements HbbTV with a standardized procedure for adaptive streaming: MPEG-DASH.

Second Hybrid TV in Europe & beyond Symposium (Paris)

2015»

RTL launches its portal Clipfish with almost 880 free available movies via HbbTV that can be accessed via the red button.

HbbTV Association announced the release of the new HbbTV 2.0 specification

HbbTV EUROPEAN ROUND TABLE 2015 in Lucca (Italy)

Freeview New Zealand launched its HbbTV platform

Over 45 companies showcasing HbbTV at IBC 2015 in Amsterdam

Bosnian satellite DTH platform Hayat TV has launched its HbbTV service portal.

ETSI releases new specification for HbbTV 2.0

4. HbbTV Symposium (London)

2016»

HbbTV Association announces development of operator application specification

HbbTV Association joined panel at Digital Broadcasting Africa Forum 2016

Italy adopts HbbTV 2.0.1 interactive TV standard

ETSI adopted the specification HbbTV Application Discovery over Broadband (ADB)

HbbTV Association joins forces with Smart TV Alliance

5. HbbTV Symposium (Madrid)

Adoption of HbbTV in Greece by Cosmote TV

HbbTV releases Test Suite for HbbTV 2 Specification

2017»

Spanish digital TV forum adopts HbbTV 2

Sofia Digital implements the reference video streaming application for HbbTV Association

ETSI published the standard IP-delivered Broadcast Channels and Related Signaling of HbbTV Applications.

HbbTV announces publication of IPTV Specification

6. HbbTV Symposium (Rome)

HbbTV publishes specification for Operator Applications

The BBC Launches the First HbbTV Service in the UK

2018»

HbbTV publishes new version of Core Specification to Support HDR, HFR and NGA

HbbTV Operator Applications Specification has been published as a Standard Specification by ETSI

HbbTV releases Version 2018-2 of the HbbTV Conformance Test Suite

HbbTV Association announces release of its free-to-use DASH DRM Reference Application

SevenOne Media and pilot Hamburg presented first addressable TV spot campaign in real operation

DVB and HbbTV Release DASH Validation Tool to Simplify Content Conformance

7th HbbTV Symposium and Awards in cooperation with Deutsche TV-Plattform (Berlin)

Quotes by Eyewitnesses

The development and success story of HbbTV in the last decade and earlier is the result of many people from different nations and professions working together. In this section you will find a selection of quotes by people involved with HbbTV and statements about how they see HbbTV personally.

Two worlds on one device

“HbbTV successfully brought together the two worlds of broadcast and broadband on one device for the first time. Now, HbbTV 2 goes one step further and creates a new seamless television experience with multi-screen and multi-stream features.”

—Thomas Schierbaum, IRT

Cornerstone for a seamless connection

10 years ago, HbbTV laid the cornerstone for a seamless connection of broadcast and broadband technology to complement traditional linear TV channels with on-demand services on an a manufacturer-independent and open basis. The support of new technologies and standards by the new HbbTV 2.0 standard, such as the replay function, UHD, HDR and much more, considerably extends and enriches the possibilities of smart TVs and mobile devices. Congratulations on the anniversary and all the best for the future!

—Udo Bley, Editor Infodigital