Updated: HbbTV and FreeviewPlus: Everything you need to know ~ lotfi

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 beginning 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.

SBS On Deman on FreeviewPlus

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 last 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.

In its early days, FreeView Plus has been limited to simply combining catch up TV services with traditional broadcasts.

It's also suffered a fairly major setback before it has even really taken off, with SBS announcing it is withdrawing from the FreeView platform because of budget restrictions.

That said, we're finally starting to see set-top boxes offering FreeView Plus support arrive on shelves, although they are a tough sell without integrated hard drives for PVR functionality.

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.

SBS on FreeviewPlus

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.