Digital
television
is
the
system
of
broadcasting television using digital signals.
Digital signals are a flux of information
(audio, video and data) represented as a serie
of numbers ones and zeros, meaning that an
electronic signal is there or it is not there.
By Francesca Burichetti (francesca.burichetti@alice.it)
Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)
•
SOFA TV
Satellite TV
Iptv
•
DESKTOP TV
Web TV
•
HAND TV
Mobile TV
The motivation behind development of digital television can be
traced back to the history of analogical broadcasting. In fact at
the end of 1980s in the USA the main players of the broadcasting
industry convinced the FCC to create a committee to study the
desirability and the potential impact of the switch on digital
television.
So, at the beginning of 1988 a lot of different high definition
television systems (both analogical and digital) were tested.
The main problem that broadcasters faced in creating interactive
and advanced television was that the broadcast spectrum was
already saturated with analogical signals. The only possible
solution seemed to be the switch to a digital system.
An analogical signal of the same quality of a digital one requires
significantly greater bandwidth. Starting from this point of view
the FCC decided to implement a pro-all digital policy in the
1990s.
While the USA decided to develop an all digital system, Japan
preferred to adopt a mixed system (analogical and digital) for
high definition tv. The Japan arrived first in the development of
its HDTV standard, but it had no success. Even if the USA
developed their system later, they won, because of the better
quality of their all-digital system.
Japanese Government adopted the “Muse” system since the
1979, but the market was not ready for the HDTV and the
product was not attractive.
USA DTV was on the market only in the 1997, but its quality was
better and the products resulted attractive for the end users. USA
adopted the ATSC standard.
In the same years also the European countries launched on the
market their digital tv, using the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting)
standard.
Nowdays on the global market different closed standards exist.
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Digital signal compression
Better audiovisual
quality
Larger number of channels and tv
programmes
Possibility to achieve also people who is
travelling
Interactive consumption

High involvment of the end user (paticipation)

Schedule’s personalization
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Public and social communication

… Pluralism?
Low digital and IT
alphabetization
DIGITAL
DIVIDE
Low literacy rate in some world
areas
Scarce bandwidth coverage

The broadcasters have to cope with high cost
to have access to new technologies and to the
know how to use them. At the moment the
market presents high entrance barriers for
new comers and little players.
TRUST MARKET

Problems in the copyright protection (piracy
and illegal download of contents).
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It has been the way to protect the electronic
industry that is coping with an hard and
difficult economic crisis since the end of the
1980s.
It is the best opportunity to develop and
strengthen the Information Society.
It is the only possible solution to the problem
of frequency band scarcity
Viviane Reding is the EU commissioner for
Information Society and Media. She is a very
active member of the Group of the European
Commission focused on the Lisbon Strategy,
so she works for a concrete contribution to
the development of the ICT sector.
The European Commission and the Member States of
the EU are working together in developing European
Information Society, that is a very important goal to
create a competitive Europe.
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Creating an open and competitive single
market for Information Society and Media
Services within the EU.
Increasing EU investment in research on
Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) by 80%.
Promoting an inclusive European Information
Society to close the gap of the digital divide.
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This new directive will amends and rename
the actual Television Without Frontiers
Directive and will be transposed in national
law by the end of 2009.
The main principles will not be changed:
◦ promoting the production and the distribution of
European works, paying attention also to
independent content producers;
◦ access of the public to all the major (sports) events;
◦ protection of minors.
What’s new?
The new Directive takes into account also the on demand (nonlinear) contents. Linear and non-linear contents are treated
differently, considering the end user control over the service.
On Demand services are thus subject to lighter regulation.
In this way the Directive protects minors, ensures accessible
services to people and, at the same time, recognizes the
fundamental role of the user’s choice and his responsibility in
the new On Demand environment.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
54%
50%
40,7%
33,3%
89,9
27,6%
55,6
60%
40%
30%
67,9
%
mln abitazioni
Penetrazione della TV Digitale in Europa
At the end of the 2007 more than
50% of European families had an
access to a digital television.
20%
41,6
10%
0%
2004
2005
2006
mln abitazioni
2007
%
Western Europe digital access
at the end of 2007.
Abitazioni TV in Europa Occidentale per
tecnologia, 2007
Analogico
46%
DTV
54%
Tdt
34%
Satellite
42%
Iptv
6%
Cavo
Digitale
18%
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This technology is the way to broadcast
digital television services using terrestrial
frequencies.
Thanks to the signal compression, DTT allows
to provide a greater number of channels with
the same quality of the ones provided by
analogical conventional tv.
ATSC (in North America and South Korea).
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Main standards:
ISDB-T in Japan and Brazil.
DVB-T in Europe, Australia, New Zeland,
Columbia, Uruguay and some States of Africa.
Greater number of channels and better
quality
BENEFITS OF
DTT
Interactive services
T-Government
Cheapness
Easy to be used
PROBLEMS OF
DTT
UNIVERSALITY
Technical problems due to the scarce
diffusion of the broadband
Low success of the interactive services
Incomplete coverage of the signal
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The analogical switch-off and the passage to
digital terrestrial tv is the best solution to solve
the problems of frequency scarcity.
For this reason in the Geneva 2006 Agreement,
regulating frequency usage in Europe, Africa and
parts of Asia, national administrations agreed to
stop their analogical services along their borders
by 2015.
In Europe the last data for the switch-off has
been fixed at 31st December 2012.
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Europe is leading the world in the process of the
analogical switch-off, to free up the radiotelevision spectrum and to ensure citizens the
advantages due to digital tv.
The digital terrestrial tv grows very quickly in
Europe. The e-Media Institute observed that at
the end of 2008, 13 million of new European
families adopted digital television.
According to a research (made in France,
Germany, Italy, UK and Spain) 50% of 13 millions
families were DTT adopters.
COUNTRY
BASIC
BOUQUET
Finland
PREMIUM
BOUQUET
SINGLE
CHANNELS
PAY PER
VIEW
X
France
X
UK
X
Italy
X
X
X
Netherlands
X
Sweden
X
X
X
X
X
This table summarizes the main strategies used by European pay-tv
operators on the DTT. You can observe that many use the 5 bundling
strategies.
The image indicates the phases of Italian switch-off.
The digital terrestrial tv is very important for our country because we have
no cable tv, so it is the best way to have a multi-channel service. Also for this
reason we have a strong pay tv service on DTT, differently by other
European countries.
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Satellite television is a TV system in which the
signals are transmitted to an orbiting satellite
that receives the signals, amplifies them and
transmits them back to the earth.
The end user can receive these signals trough a
proper dish and a set top box.
This has been the first successful digital tv in
Europe.
Large availability of channels
BENEFITS OF
SAT TV
National and international coverage
Trasmission of a lot of high definition contents
Expensive and often private service
PROBLEMS OF
SAT TV
Low interactive services
Technical problems
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Thanks to its high number of channels the
satellite tv is the best digital platform for pay
tv all over Europe.
Sat TV is the queen of
premium contents and of
thematic television.
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In Italy we have only a pay tv provider on satellite tv:
Sky Italia (owned by NewsCorporation). So we have a
monopoly: there is no competition on this digital
platform.
Sky Italia was born in 2003 as a result of a merger
between Stream and Telepiù (the two old competitors
on Italian market). The merger has been allowed by
the European Commission to avoid a market
downturn.
Until 2005 Sky Italia was the unique pay tv provider on
Italian market, but now competition is emerging,
thanks to DTT development
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The Iptv is a system where the digital tv is delivered
over the Internet Protocol (IP), thanks to a network
infrastructure (multicast), usually based on
broadband connection.
It is considered a form of cable television and it is
usually delivered by telecommunication providers
that buy contents from other broadcasters or content
producers.
This service is usually sold in bundling with phone
and Internet services (“triple play strategy”).
Highest number of available channels
BENEFITS OF
IPTV
Efficient communication and feedback
channel between providers and consumers
Best effort for the interactive services and
personalization opportunities (VOD).
PROBLEMS OF
IPTV
Expensive service, based on closed
standard
Scarce broadband diffusion
The main research
institutes forecast a
strong growth for this
technology by the 2012,
overall in Asia and in
West Europe, where the
typical cable tv is not
widespread.
The image (by Gartner Research Group) indicates the numbers of
subscribers in different areas of the world.
SERVICE
PROVIDER
COUNTRY
NUMBER OF
SUBSCRIBERS
France Telecom
France
577.000
Telefonica
Spanish
383.000
Free
France
310.000
Neuf Telecom
France
300.000
Fastweb
Italy
170.000
Belgacom
Belgium
140.000
Tiscali UK
United Kingdom
45.000
The data are updated at the end of 2006 by e-Media Institute Research
This table shows that the most advanced European country in the IPTV sector is
France followed by Spain and Italy.
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The Web Tv is a digital system television
delivered over the Web. It is not the same as
Iptv even though both use the Internet
Protocol.
The Iptv is based on a closed and proprietary
network (multicast), while the Web Tv is
based on the open, unicast Web. Every one
can upload and distribute a video on the Web!
Web Tv is based on one to one
communication so it is at the opposite side of
traditional broadcasting.
Television Broadcasters (as ABC in
USA)
WHO ARE THE WEB
TV SERVICE
PROVIDERS AND
CONTENT
PRODUCERS?
Other kinds of broadcasters
coming from the radio or
newspaper world (Corriere.it Tv)
Web Publishers (as Current Tv or
Messenger Tv)
Telecommunication companies
(Yalp! Tv)
VIDEO SHARING SITES
(YouTube, DailyMotion, Hulu)
End users (User Generated
Contents)
Corporate televisions
Open and interactive platform
High personalization power and possibility
of choice for the end users
BENEFITS OF
WEB TV
New format and kind of contents (UGC)
Focused advertisements
Low cost and free services
Catch-up tv consumption
Technical limits and low quality
Piracy phenomenon
PROBLEMS OF
WEB TV
Inadequacy for live contents
Uncertainty of the business model
Lack of a clear definition of the “view”
COUNTRY
TELEVISION
France
48%
Spanish
38%
Germany
36%
Italy
35%
United Kingdom
32%
Percentage of Internet
users that in 2007 used
also Web Tv services.
(Data communicated by
the Idate Research
Group)
Number of
Web Tv in
various
countries of
the World.
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Is Web Tv a real threat for Sofa Tv?
Will UGC and piracy destroy premium
contents?
Which business model will win in the future,
free to air or pay tv?
Do new platforms represent a true
opportunity for new comers and small
players?