HBB4ALL: Deployment of HbbTV services for all

Hybrid Broadcast Television for All is a European Commission co-financed project, inside the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). The project builds on HbbTV, the European standard for broadcast and broadband multimedia converged services, and looks at how HbbTV technology may be used to enhance access services (such as subtitling, audio description or sign language) on both the production and service sides. HbbTV 1.5 devices are widely available in the market while HbbTV version 2.0 specification has been recently released. TV content can be enhanced by HbbTV applications with additional synchronised services in a personalised manner. For access services this opens an entirely new opportunity for users who may choose an access service delivered via their IP connection which seamlessly integrates with the regular broadcast programme. The presentation will describe the improvements taken on board by HBB4ALL to existing access services and ways of addressing the key technical, organisational and legal obstacles to the sustainable take-up of these services throughout Europe. HBB4ALL focuses on real pilot deployment as a first step to ensure a successful exploitation of these services in a near future. We will offer new insights, from the fields of human machine interaction and social innovation, which arise from the new interactive multimodal and multilanguage services which may be offered. This article will first describe the structure chosen for the project, with four pilots developed in parallel: subtitling, audio description, sign language and user interaction. Then it will describe the methodology and research approaches used for testing the new accessibility services.