5. The service providers 33
6.6. Second screen 42
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,
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
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
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
Content which is presented in a way without any navigational control for 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
Content which is available on-‐demand. So the viewer has navigational 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.
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