This topic

Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Dh40 — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 09:44:43 GMT

I have the BT Pro box, but for some reason channels that use HBBTV don't work via the bt box but does work via my TV.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

ozsat — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 09:49:37 GMT

The streaming Freeview packaged channels have never been enabled on any BT box I have ever had.

@Dh40wrote:
Hi
I have the BT Pro box, but for some reason channels that use HBBTV don't work via the bt box but does work via my TV.
Has anyone else had this issue?
Thanks

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Dh40 — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 09:57:26 GMT

Maybe that might change since com 7 is closing down. Hopefully a bt moderator on here can find out some information

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

ozsat — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 11:48:39 GMT

I just got struck on the head by a low flying pig 😄

@Dh40wrote:
Maybe that might change since com 7 is closing down.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

biohazardx9 — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 17:51:08 GMT

Technically the box can handle hbb, it does use an alternative technology. As bbc crb works fine and also one channel does work. SBN actually boots up and streams. Can't be that hard to enable it.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

ozsat — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 18:02:22 GMT

Most likely a BT decision that they will not be enabled then.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

biohazardx9 — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 18:15:11 GMT

Could be a freeview certified thing. Like licencing

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

DaveSwan — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 01:53:47 GMT

Nothing to do with licensing, HbbTV was designed to be an open standard and is used by broadcasters around the world. In fact, it’s usage was nudged forward by the Beeb as a way of delivering a unified experience across platforms.

In this case, it’s simply that many steamed channels on DTT use Arqiva‘s backend product, which uses MHEG-IC. YouView doesn’t support this.

MHEG-IC is older than HbbTV, but there are more devices out there that support it through the Freeview spec, and unsurprisingly they couldn’t dump it without dropping support for a considerable number of devices.

When Arqiva became involved in YouView, a number of years back, they said they wanted to make these channels available to YouView users, so this essentially meant creating an HBbTV app that’ll pull in the stream when a YouView device is detected. It’s why the apps look a little different.

It’s a basic and crude way of getting it to work, and it’s only really used on single stream channels, or those with a dedicated HbbTV app of their own. For services with multiple streams, or those using only MHEG-IC, Arqiva would need to develop a different app just for YouView.

All this means, at least for the short to medium term is that YouView likely won’t be able to deliver the same streamed channel experience as Freeview Play devices might. Long term, everything should be ported from MHEG, but at the moment there are simply too many devices that use it.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

kanturner — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 13:42:01 GMT

Hi Folks, is this issue ongoing as it seems to have gone a bit quiet? I have today taken delivery of a brand new EE TV Pro box as part of an attempt to resolve a few issues. One of these issue is IP provided Freview channels that won't play on the box but do on the TV. To summarise I have the new EE box pro and a 2022 Samsung Smart TV. Both are wire-connected to the BT HomeHub using identical ethernet cables and the TV aerial goes into the EE box, and is taken from the EE Box pass-through outlet to the Sammy TV. Both box and TV show the same channel list and programming in their respective EPGs, but whilst these will play on the Sammy TV, I just get a channel splash screen on the EE TV Box. The affected channels are 237 to 295 with the exceptions of 263 and 265 which will play for some reason. I can watch the channels fine on the TV, but would like also to access them on the EE box so that I can pause, rewind and record etc.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:09:46 GMT

@kanturner

It’s being actively discussed at the moment over on the EE Community:-

https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/TV/Multiple-channels-showing-quot-On-Now-quot/td-p/1402456

There are reports that the Pro box won’t play any of these internet channels, but your observation that you can play 263 and 265, but none of the others in that range, agrees with my observations that my T4000 will play these two, and my scepticism that the Pro box wouldn’t.

The reason that these two play is that they are HbbTV channels, which YouView boxes can decode, and all the others are the older standard MHEG, which YouView can’t decode.

Freeview used to mandate that TVs should support both, but now supporting MHEG is optional. But most TVs still do, and you can see why, with the poor penetration of HbbTV across these channels.

YouView never followed the Freeview rules, so it never did have MHEG.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

kanturner — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:19:15 GMT

Thanks for taking the time to respond Midnight. What you say seems to support what I'd already come to believe, but it's good to have confirmation, rather than the endless speculation on my part. Curiously, neither the Freeview or EE TV agents I spoke with today were able to offer much in the way of clarity.

So I guess we wait until EE adopts the new standards or upgrades its firmware to account for both types. Or, how's this for revolution, all broadcasters use one format only?

Either way, I won't be holding my breath.

Thanks for clarifying

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:35:23 GMT

@kanturner

HbbTV is the new standard, and MHEG the old one, and Freeview is trying, without much success it seems, to bring about the revolution you describe.

YouView never had MHEG, right from the start 12 years ago, so I can’t see them moving to add it now. As with Accurate Recording, YouView have always prized being technically ‘in the right’ over providing what people actually want and need 😢

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 21:06:25 GMT

@Dh40

The channels that use HbbTV do work. 263 and 265.

It’s the ones that use the older MHEG standard that don’t work, and this is by design, as YouView and Freeview both wait in vain for the owners of these channels to move to HbbTV 😢

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Lսkе — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:37:27 GMT

Like at least some of the other streaming channels in the 251-299 range channels 263 and 265 are setup to use either HbbTV or MHEG-IC . For a box to use either it has to have suitable code to pick up the hook and use it.

It's now been 30 months since it was announced that all these channels now included at least HbbTV.
One example of that announcement still around is https://rxtvinfo.com/2022/freeview-ip-channels-complete-hbbtv-rollout/
I think it was DigitalUK that had a list of what was included for each channel, but they never kept it up to date with their own announcements , which no doubt caused some confusion, and eventually got scrubbed, with no transfer to the everyone, (or freeview), site of that page.

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

SoupDragon57 — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:09:44 GMT

@Midnight_Voice Will be interesting to see whether these old MHEG-IC channels are supported by Freely...

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Stevetuc — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 08:55:38 GMT

On my BT Pro box, I’ve noticed that internet channels such as:
254 On Demand365
280 Talk TV
284 GIGS
all worked perfectly until very recently.
Since YouView has never supported MHEG, this suggests these channels rely on HbbTV - otherwise, they wouldn’t have worked at all.
The recent issues might be due to changes in the HbbTV standard that YouView hasn’t kept up with.

Edit: I copied my post into ChatGPT and got this response:

Your observation about internet channels 254, 280, and 284 is correct. These channels functioned on your

BT TV Box Pro

specifically because they use HbbTV rather than the older MHEG-IC standard.

The reason these channels worked and then recently stopped relates to the specific way YouView handles HbbTV and ongoing updates to the standard:

Selective HbbTV Support: YouView does not support "generic" HbbTV as a global standard for every channel. Instead, it utilizes a specific HbbTV Operator App framework. For an internet channel to work on YouView, the broadcaster must create a dedicated HbbTV application that YouView specifically recognizes.
The "Crude" Implementation: Many internet-only channels on Freeview (like On Demand365 or GIGS) use Arqiva’s backend product. To make these work on YouView, Arqiva developed a specific HbbTV app that triggers when a YouView device is detected. If Arqiva or the individual channel provider updates their technical delivery without updating this specific YouView-compatible app, the channel will stop working.
HbbTV 2.0.4 Evolution: Throughout 2024 and 2025, the industry has transitioned toward HbbTV 2.0.4, which includes new requirements for accessibility and Digital Rights Management (DRM). If a channel's stream was updated to meet these newer standards, older YouView firmware or the custom "crude" apps may no longer be able to decode the stream properly.
Shift Toward "Freely": Broadcasters are currently prioritizing the new Freely platform (the UK's IP-based successor to Freeview), which also uses HbbTV. Some technical resources are being shifted away from maintaining legacy support for individual HbbTV internet channels on older platforms like YouView in favor of this new unified platform.

So its likely HbbTV 2.0.4 support thats the issue. I won't hold my breath waiting for this to be fixed then 🙂

Re: Channels that use HBBTV technology.

Stevetuc — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:38:33 GMT

The irony here is that my 2013 Panasonic Plasma does receive these channels and more!
Due to legacy fallback many UK streamed channels still broadcast a legacy MHEG signal alongside newer HbbTV versions to ensure compatibility with older smart TVs.
The Youview boxes were ahead of their time back in the day by supporting HbbTV and not Mheg so few channels worked then.. and now behind the times by not supporting HbbTV 2.0.4 so even fewer channels work now!

My BT Pro box is a notsoSmart TV these days 😅