The EBU’s annual seminar on broadcast technologies, media delivery and spectrum took place in Geneva at the beginning of November. Nearly 100 participants joined the event, including EBU Members, representatives of network operators, regulatory bodies, policy makers, manufacturers and research labs.
This year’s event focused on the future of terrestrial broadcasting. For a number of years now, the terrestrial broadcasting platform has faced challenges and continues to do so. There is an increasing competition between broadcasters, who are trying to innovate, and ISPs, who are trying to extend their broadband coverage to provide better access to consumers. Both want to deliver high quality media content to all types of receivers, including tablets and smart phones.
Both are also fighting for access to the UHF band which provides excellent coverage conditions thus reducing network costs. In addition, broadcasters are facing the release of part of this band, the 800 MHz and probably the 700 MHz. The lobbying from the mobile industry is not letting up and this ‘salami slicing’ may also affect the rest of the UHF band which is a candidate band for mobile use at the next Word Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-15).
For Andre Prahl, RTL, there are three key points to guarantee the success of DTT:
-
to become a viable and sustainable business model,
-
to use top technologies to provide the best quality services to viewers (DVB-T2, HEVC, HDTV and UHDT in the future) and,
- to have political and regulatory support including access to spectrum below 700 MHz until 2030.
Concerning the first point, the Chairman of the conference reminded that “Public service media use money to make programmes and provide public services, and not the other way round”, EBU Digital Strategy Group, 2006. But EBU Members present at the event clearly joined RTL in the other two key points including the broadcast network operators who declared their continuous support, as Lars Backlund stated: ‘’DTT is here to stay’’.
Panelists continued this discussion in the afternoon, focusing on whether or not it would be possible to have a harmonized roadmap for Europe, taking into consideration diverging national situations. Flexibility was mentioned as a possible solution although each panelist had its own definition. It should not only provide access to mobile services, but also allow DTT to stay if a country decides so.
The second part of the event looked at the growing importance of broadband networks and how broadcasting is evolving to reach its audience with broadband platforms. Broadcasters demonstrated how they have already started to embrace broadband technologies. Ignacio Gomez, RTVE, presented the Spanish HbbTV roadmap. Sébastian Noir, RTS, gave the latest news on cross-platform authentication. And, Matt Hammond, BBC, spoke about the opportunities of companion screens (or second screens) in the house. The future of radio was also discussed in the afternoon. With the switch off of FM services ahead in some countries, the future use of Band III was discussed as well as the cost savings of DAB+ compared to FM services.