[opendtv] ITV calling for temporary spectrum for transition to HDTV
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 16:23:31 -0400
ITV is a broadcaster, so I'll agree that in this case a broadcaster is
asking for spectrum for HDTV.
Not much detail given, but it looks like they are proposing to simulcast
HDTV only until HD-capable receivers are widespread. Then return that
extra multipex and quit simulcasting(?). Another transition, in short.
Not a permanently separate "HDTV tier."
Not enough detail provided to see exactly how this would work. For
example, would only HDTV be coded with H.264? If yes, then are they
hoping for an HDTV channel needing between 3 and 4 Mb/s only (the amount
now given to SDTV channels in Freeview)?
Bert
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=2448
Grade calls on Jowell for loan of HD spectrum
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade has offered the Government a
compromise solution in the campaign for spectrum to be reserved for
high-definition broadcasts on digital terrestrial television (DTT).
Grade told a Royal Television Society breakfast meeting, attended by
culture secretary Tessa Jowell, that the UK's public service
broadcasters would be willing to help "drive the transition to a more
efficient transmission standard on DTT" if the Government loaned them "a
little over a multiplex of capacity".
"In due course, once HD compatible boxes are sufficiently widespread, we
will give the loaned spectrum back and it can be auctioned. Even if you
did this Ofcom would still be able to auction nearly two thirds of the
released spectrum now which would give plenty of space for successful
bidders to develop mobile TV, wi-fi and so on."
Grade told Jowell that if she took this approach, and "made less
spectrum available to the market in the next couple of years", the
Government would not necessarily "take a big financial hit in terms of
auction proceeds".
"If there is little demand for the spectrum then little would be lost
through reserving some of it for the PSBs. By contrast, although I admit
it is difficult to model with any certainty, my rudimentary
understanding of economics suggests that if there is significant demand
for the spectrum, and some supply is taken out, the price of the
spectrum which remains in the auction should rise, possibly
substantially."
Ofcom is currently considering responses to a consultation on its
digital dividend review, having announced in December that it favoured
an auction of the entire spectrum due to be liberated by switchover on
the grounds that the regulator was not best placed "to decide which
services should get access to spectrum". Last month Ofcom CEO Ed
Richards said the regulator would conduct more research into viewers'
expectations of HDTV before reaching a final conclusion.
In his RTS speech Grade said Freeview had done "more than anything else
to bring equal access to the benefits of digital multichannel television
in the UK". "But just as one digital divide is closing another is
potentially opening up as high-definition television begins to take hold
worldwide.
"Last year nearly 2.4m HDTVs were sold in the UK, five times as many as
in 2005. The market research analysts GFK predict that by the end of
2010 80% of households will have an HDTV. In practice the whole market
is at the point of tipping to HD. At the same time of course, consumers
are continuing to buy into DTT in large numbers too and it is already
the UK's largest TV platform.
"The warning lights for policy makers should be flashing red. Recent
independent market research for Freeview shows that most Freeview users
buying HDTVs expect to get HD television services via, Freeview in the
future and they expect Freeview to keep up with technological advances.
The trouble is that in due course these people are likely to be bitterly
disappointed."
Grade said if the Government did not act, and reserve capacity for HD on
Freeview, then there was a "danger of the DTT platform becoming a sort
of welfare TV platform, confined for ever to the technology of the 20th
century".
Lovelace Consulting 24.05.2007
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
