Channels that use HBBTV technology.

[kanturner]

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

[Midnight_Voice]

@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 😢

[Midnight_Voice]

@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 😢

[Lսkе]

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.

[SoupDragon57]

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

[Stevetuc]

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 🙂

[Stevetuc]

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 😅