The HbbTV Association’s announcement of its specification for targeted advertising should sustain the technology for the European and especially German commercial broadcasters already on board, but fail to win new recruits. Called HbbTV-TA, the association as good as admits the limitations of its ambition with its boast that it has huge potential for adoption in Europe as the first open standard dedicated to targeted advertising in broadcast TV. It argues erroneously that HbbTV-TA will enable new business models and revenue sources that have so far been “largely restricted to the advertising market on the internet or OTT/streaming services.” It fails to mention the few proprietary platforms that have emerged, most notably Sky’s AdSmart developed with help from remnants of Cisco…