[opendtv] European DTV outlook

The third Italian national conference on DTT ended on 1 December, in
Torino.

http://www.dgtvi.it/stat/News_e_Eventi/Eventi/Terza_Conferenza_Nazionale
_sulla_TV_Digitale_Terrestre.html

The second pdf listed in the web page is a status report one European
DTT, mentioning all countries in Europe which have an ongoing or
completed DTT migration program. Italy, the UK, France, Germany, and
Spain are studied closely, and the Netherlands and Finland are also
mentioned.

Lots of interesting info. A few points I think might be of general
interest are:

1. Italy and France both have "tuner mandates" much like here. But the
French one includes HDTV compatibility. Evidently, the Italian one does
not (too bad, I think). They take effect by the end of 2008 to retail
stores, and in April 2009 for resale.

2. Germany is a country with a legacy of decent analog cable. As such,
DTV in general, and DTT in particular, are less successful in Germany
than in some of the other European countries mentioned.

3. The UK is the winner for DTV uptake overall. They estimate 91.6
percent overall end of 2007, including DTT, IPTV, DBS. DBS and digital
cable are rising very slowly in the UK, but DTT is rising fast to
replace the much-used analog terrestrial. (France is 58.6 percent
overall DTV households. Italy is 49.7 percent. Spain is 48.5 percent.)

4. Looks like in most Euro countries other than the UK, DTT uptake is in
general replacing analog terrestrial TV. DBS use is shown to be mostly
consistent, rising slowly. And digital cable is also on a significant
rise, replacing analog cable. In Germany, the OTA component of this DTV
migration is small. A small analog terrestrial sliver being replaced by
a similarly small DTT sliver. DTT gets a few more households than analog
terrestrial had, but nothing spectacular.

5. For whatever reason, in Italy and in Spain, looks like many
households set up for DTT continue to watch mostly analog TV. In Italy,
for instance, they say that 20 percent of households are set up for DTT,
yet only 2.7 percent actually use it. They speculate it's because there
isn't a whole lot of extra stuff over DTT that isn't also available over
analog, and reception is not yet universal enough.

6. Regional TV content is said to be a big boost to DTT in the UK and
France, where regional content was scarce over analog TV. But they say
Italy already has their regional networks over analog, so the regional
stations want to take on more of a network role in the DTT conversion. I
think that means that the regional broadcasters want to set up their own
multiplexes.

So essentially, the fast uptake of DTT in Europe will last only as long
as analog OTA TV is still a factor. It looks to me like the slower but
steady increase in digital cable and DBS will eventually put the brakes
on DTT increase, much as has happened here even before the DTV migration
began.

They also show graphs of STB sales vs sales of integrated sets. Same
story there too. The percentage of DTV sales attributed to STBs is
declining, and integrated sets increasing.

Much analysis also of DTV content in the different countries, including
the outlook on HDTV, which is far better here than anywhere else for the
DTT medium, I must say.

All very interesting, and if anything, this points out just how similar
things really are, when all considerations are made. The success of DTT
depends PRIMARILY on usage of OTA analog, and secondarily on whether DTT
content is significantly different from analog terrestrial content.

Bert
 
 
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