Darko Ratkaj

EBU Technical

ratkaj@ebu.ch

80+ active members from 56 countries

45 associate members around the world

470+ TV channels and 900+ radio channels

195 million TV households and 600+ million viewers every week

more than 60 million people visit EBU members’ web services every day

www.ebu.ch tech.ebu.ch

• Public service broadcasting

• Terrestrial broadcasting

• The digital dividend

• Future prospects of digital terrestrial TV

• Terrestrial broadcasting vs. mobile broadband

• Discussion

Public Service Broadcasting

Why public service broadcasting?

Public service broadcasting uses money to make programmes

and provide public services, and not the other way around!

• Media has a strong influence on the society.

• This can bring significant benefits to the whole society.

• Market economy alone, left to itself, does not produce

as much benefits as it could. This is called ‘market failure’.

• Regulation is used to correct the market failure.

• Public service remit is defined through the regulatory obligations.

• Content obligations

* information, education, entertainment, culture and identity, language,

cultural diversity, social inclusion, citizenship, public sphere

• Editorial and economic independence

from political and commercial interests

• Coverage obligations: free-to-air, universal coverage

• Reliable delivery through all relevant distribution platforms

- no charges for terrestrial spectrum, ‘must carry’ on cable,

no ‘gate keeping’, net neutrality

• Maximum availability with minimum costs

for the viewers and listeners:

• Competition between different distribution platforms

About terrestrial broadcasting

EBU – Recommendation R 131

Terrestrial Broadcasting

in Europe

tech.ebu.ch

• No other delivery platform

combines all these features

to the same degree as

the digital terrestrial TV.

Availability

Free to air

Flexibility

Efficiency

Quality of service

Market success

Development

• Any future replacement must

provide the same benefits.

• DTT is the key platform

to deliver the public value

in Europe.

• Availability

• near-universal coverage (98+ % of the population)

• most of the households equipped to receive terrestrially

• most of the TV receivers come with a DTT tuner

• Flexibility

• any reception mode (fixed, portable, mobile)

• coverage can be adjusted as needed (national, regional, local)

• various business models (free-to-air, pay-TV)

• flexible use of the available capacity in a multiplex

• supports a range of services

• Free-to-air

• no additional charges for the viewers

• no gate keeping

• Cost efficient

• total delivery costs (for broadcasters) for all FTA channels

in the order of a few € / month per household

• Programme offer in Europe (June 2011)

• 1800 channels in the EU27+ Croatia and Turkey

• 820 national channels (compared to 500 in April 2009)

• 54% of the channels are local

• 47% of the channels are free-to-air, 53% pay-TV

• HDTV available on DTT in 13 countries

• 60% FTA channels are private, 40% public (92% of pay-TV are private)

• The fastest growing broadcasting platform

• estimated 700 millions of DVB receivers in use (end of 2011)

• this does not include DVB-T2 receivers

• growth by 100 mil / year

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Jan.2009 Jul.2009 Jan.2010 Jul.2010 Jan.2011 Jul.2011

No

. TV

ch

ann

els

Source: Mavise TV database (www.obs.coe.int/about/oea/pr/mavise_juin2011.html)

EU27 + Croatia and Turkey

• Programme offer in Europe (June 2011)

• 1800 channels in the EU27+ Croatia and Turkey

• 820 national channels (compared to 500 in April 2009)

• 54% of the channels are local

• 47% of the channels are free-to-air, 53% pay-TV

• HDTV available on DTT in 13 countries

• 60% FTA channels are private, 40% public (92% of pay-TV are private)

• The fastest growing broadcasting platform

• estimated 700 millions of DVB receivers in use (end of 2011)

• this does not include DVB-T2 receivers

• growth by 100 mil / year

• Viewing

• viewing time of linear TV is about 4 hours/day and increasing

• time shifted and on-demand viewing is increasingly popular

• TV is the most popular singe platform for audiovisual content

• the social aspect of TV reaffirmed through new social media

Source: Eurobarometer, July 2011

DTT: 30%

Analogue: 23%

Future prospects

of digital terrestrial TV

• Continuous development

• increase in capacity, flexibility (MPEG-4, DVB-T2)

• evolution of linear services (all-HD, mobile TV, 3D-TV)

• non-linear services (time-shifted, on-demand, personalized)

• hybrid broadcast-broadband (HBB) solutions, multi-screen

• Regulation

• preserve sufficient amount of spectrum for the future

• protect the public value of DTT

• Interference

• from the mobile systems in the 800 MHz band (and below)

• from white space devices

• from Power Line Telecommunication (PLT) systems

• Switch-over from analogue to digital TV

• analogue switch-off completed in 17 European countries

• additional 11 countries announced the switch-off date

tech.ebu.ch

1. Linear broadcasting services are here to stay.• DTT will remain important in the foreseeable future

• technology and service development must continue

• sufficient spectrum and adequate regulation are essential

2. Non-linear services will continue to grow• hybrid broadcast / broadband approach is the way to go

Question: How to deliver linear TV to personal user devices

(smartphones, media tablets and personal computers)?

3. Mobile and portable reception will be increasingly important

Question: How to leverage on the strengths of DTT in a hybrid world?

4. Innovative ways for indoor distribution are needed• broadcasters cannot do it alone

Question: How to ensure that radio and TV are retained

in the future mobile multimedia service offering?

Question: Who are potential partners and how to engage them?

The Digital Dividend

• Increased technical quality (SDTV, HDTV)

• New kinds of services (mobile, data, hybrid, multi-screen, 3DTV ...)

• Convergence in the all-digital environment

• Multi-fold increase in transmission capacity

• Reduction of costs

• Increased flexibility

• Scope for development

• Spectrum opportunities

• more intense use of the spectrum for DTT

• some spectrum to be released (e.g. 800 MHz band for mobile)

• sharing with other users (e.g. white space devices)

Because it is complex

• many stakeholders (broadcasting, mobile services, PMSE, WSD,

PPDR, regulators, policy makers, the public)

• interrelated aspects (technical, economic, regulatory, social, cultural)

There are conflicting forces at play

• economic benefits vs. social value

• cultural policy vs. industrial policy

• European harmonisation vs. specific national situation

• commercial interest vs. public service

• many decision makers (national administrations, EC, CEPT, ITU ...)

• incumbents vs. new users - reluctance to share the spectrum

• long term vs. short term

The stakes are high

• future of terrestrial broadcasting

• provision of rural broadband

• mobile business developments

• What drives the market value of the UHF spectrum?

• How much is the 700 MHz band worth?

Outcome of the 800 MHz band auctions

€ / MHz / capita

24 – 49 € per capita

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting2006

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting

790 MHz

61

BC + Mobile2007

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting

790 MHz

61

BC + Mobile

48

694 MHz

BC + Mobile2012

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

790 MHz

61

BC + MobileBC + Mobile2015

XX

X

How important is DTT in your country?

• penetration – how many households are receiving terrestrially

• market potential – how much content is needed for a viable DTT

Public value of DTT

• is there awareness amongst decision makers

• how is the pubic value protected and promoted

National audiovisual media policy

• is there a commitment to public service broadcasting

• which infrastructure will support the public policy objectives

• what is the development roadmap for this infrastructure

Are there any alternatives to DTT

• can they deliver the same benefits

• when will they be available

• at what costs

• how to migrate the audiences

Terrestrial broadcasting

vs.

wireless broadband

Terrestrial TV Wireless broadband

• universal coverage

• any reception mode

• guaranteed, predictable quality

• cost-efficient delivery to large

audiences (independent of the

number of simultaneous users)

• every user has access to

the total capacity of the network

• bi-directional

• designed for mobile reception

• potentially unlimited choice of services

• well suited to serve small audiences

• growing population of user equipment

• IP-based

• one-way, no return channel

• the offer is limited by the platform

capacity (no niche channels)

• limited delivery to mobile devices

• no access to IP-only devices

• limited coverage (with sufficient quality)

• only best effort QoS

• high costs, depending on the number of

users; not suitable for large audiences

• total capacity is shared between users

Terrestrial TV and wireless broadband are complementary!

+

−

• Mobile broadband alone cannot satisfy the users’ demand

for mobile media services

• because of the capacity constraints

• difficulties to consistently meet high quality requirements

• incomplete coverage (for the required QoS)

• high costs

• DTT networks are optimal for linear delivery

• they provide required coverage and sufficient quality

• distribution costs are low

• but alone, they are of little use for on-demand services

• DTT and mobile broadband are complementary

• only by combining their strengths will content providers be able

to offer the full range of linear and non-linear services

• this will also help to relieve the strain from the mobile networks

• LTE (downlink) and DVB-T2 are similar technologies

Discussion

2. The users care about content, not technology

How to meet their future expectations in terms of choice and quality?

• for all services, both linear and on-demand

• on all devices (large screens, smartphones, tablets)

• in all conditions (stationary, mobile, multi-screen)

3. Terrestrial broadcasting and mobile broadband are complementary

Given that neither platform alone can satisfy the whole user demand,

what could be viable models of cooperation between them?

• in delivering the full range of media services

• in using the spectrum efficiently

1. Digital dividend spectrum is a public good

How can the public value be preserved in the process?

E-mail: ratkaj@ebu.ch

Web: tech.ebu.ch