TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE
BROADCASTING INDUSTRY
THE PERSPECTIVE OF DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
25TH MAY 2009- GENEVA
THARAKA MOHOTTY
CEng (UK), PGDip (Elect &Telecomm)SL,
MSc (Business Mgt)SL, Dip in J (SL),
MIEE (UK), MIEEE (USA), MIET (UK)
Director Engineering – MTV/MBC Sri
Lanka
Chairman-Training & Resources (ABU)
Chairman-Developing Broadcasters Forum
(ABU)
Bureau Member (ABU)
A WORD ABOUT ABU
207 members in 57 countries
 58 Full Members
 40 Affiliated Members
 42 Associated Members
 67 Affiliated Members

INTRODUCTION
It is certainly not easy to summarize the status
of Broadcasting of Developing countries as
different as Bhutan and Sri Lanka or
Afghanistan and Laos.
 But they have some common roots and
experience common technical developments.
 Therefore there are a number of similarities,
which are worth being pointed out and may
lead to general conclusions.

SIMILERITIES
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Today all of the broadcasting stations basically have
analogue equipment,tapes or record archives.
Many of the stations have started some isolated
projects to digitize some of their analogue holdings.
The catalogues of most of the archives are kept in lists,
books or index cards.
Many of the stations have either partly or fully changed
their programme production to digital and computer
based systems.
The newsrooms in most of the stations use computers
for news access (Internet) and news editing.
REVIEW OF NEW BROADCASTING
TECHNOLOGIES
HDTV and DTV
 Mobile TV
 IPTV
 Digital Radio
 Emergency Broadcasting

NONLINEAR EDITING. REAL-TIME SHARED MEDIA. VTR
REPLACEMENT.
INTEGRATED ASSET MANAGEMENT. TAPELESS ACQUISITION

In the face of today's competitive,
budget, and deadline pressures, even
developing broadcasters do not have
the time or resources to fill the holes
in their production workflow.
Digital systems must be integrated
with legacy systems and software.
Most of the DB’s able to make the transition to digital
production smoothly .( Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc.)
ISSUES IN ASSET MANAGEMENT
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Lack of attention
Lack of funding
No consistent catalogue
Archive's services are not often requested
Low qualification of archive personal
Difficult environmental conditions
Poor storage conditions
Lack of a collection policy
DIGITAL TELEVISION IN THE REGION
Countries/ Territories
System Status
T-A-D
ASO
Afghanistan
Bahrain
RRC06
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei(Negara Darussalam)
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2006/01_T
2005/08/29_A
2008/08/D
Cambodia
DVB-T adopted
2007/05_A
China, People’s Republic of (incl. Tibet)
DMB-T/H adopted,
Commercial DVB-T services
2005_T
2006/08/18_A
2008_D
2015-2018
Hong Kong
DMB-T/H
2006/08/18_A
2007/12/31_D
2012
India
DVB-T adopted
2000_T
1999/07/08_A
Indonesia (incl. Iran Jaya)
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2007/05_A
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
Countries/ Territories
System Status
T-A-D
ASO
Iran
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2006_T
2001_A
2009_D
Japan
ISDB-T
2003/12_D
2011/07/24
Jordan
RRC06
1997/11/21_A
2001_D
2012/12/31
Iraq
Korea, North
Korea, South
ATSC
Kuwait
RRC06
Kyrgyztan
RRC06
Laos
DVB-T trial broadcasts
Lebanon
RRC06
Macao (Macau)
DMB-T/H adopted
2006/08/18_A
Malaysia
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2006/09_T
2005/08/29_A
DVB-T adopted
2005/08/29_A
2007/05_A
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
2015
Countries/ Territories
System Status
T-A-D
ASO
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
RRC06
Philippines
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2007/01_T
2006/11_A
2015/12/31
Qatar
RRC06
Saudi Arabia
DVB-T
2004_T
2006/06/11_D
Singapore
DVB-T
2000/12_T
1999_A
Socotra
RRC06
Sri Lanka
DVB-T trial broadcasts
Syria
RRC06
Taiwan
DVB-T
2001_T
2001_A
2004/06_D
Thailand
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2007/05_A
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates, UAE (incl. the Emirates
Abu Dhabi and Dubai)
Uzbekistan
DVB-T trial broadcasts
2007_T
Vietnam
DVB-T trial broadcasts
Yemen
RRC06
2008/01/23_T
2010
Tajikistan
RRC06
2001_T
2007/05_A
2015
MOBILE TV
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Broadcast to hand-sets (mobile phones, PDAs),
notebook PCs, etc. Interactive and audio services.
T-DMB (Terrestrial-DMB)
Evolved from DAB. Allows video, audio and data to be
transmitted to mobile devices. More efficient audio coding.
Backward compatible with DAB audio (MUSICAM).

DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld)
Tailored for transmitting multiple TV channels to mobile
devices. Time-slicing technology conserves battery power of
mobile devices.
MOBILE TV
South Korea and Japan
 Launched 3G and commercial
mobile TV broadcast
South East Asia
 Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines,
Cambodia and Brunei - launched 3G
 DVB-H trials in a number of the countries
MOBILE TV
South Korea and Japan
 Launched 3G and commercial mobile TV
broadcast
South East Asia
 Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines,
Cambodia and Brunei - launched 3G
 DVB-H trials in a number of Developing
countries
IPTV -FUTURE FOR ASIA
According to ASIA PACIFIC
MULTICHANNEL MARKETS ,cable
could lose its grip on the region in the
next ten years, as DTH and IPTV
services capture market share. IPTV
platforms operated by Telco's over DSL
or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks
are forecast to develop even in the
developing countries.
All countries have IP telephony and VoIP
in some manner and the market is
growing
October 1, 2008 Sri Lanka Joins World
IPTV Club- uses Optibase H.264
streaming platforms
ISSUES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The Asia-Pacific region offers huge potential,
but the regulatory environment is restricting
development.
 Countries do not have the sufficient
connectivity infrastructure to support streaming
video over IP.
 Consumer spending power.
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DIGITAL RADIO - PRODUCTIONS

The few radio stations in Asia trying to turn the
news and production system digital. The main
features of the system are:
» Text Editing
» Audio Editing
» Auto recording
» Wire Service
» Prompter for the news delivery
» Archiving
DIGITAL RADIO - TRANSMISSIONS
Exploring DRM MW Simulcast in the Region
MW Tx conversion to DRM
Examining simulcast modes
 HD Radio
Trials in Vietnam
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SHORTWAVE DRM RADIO
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Services operating from
Japan, China, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Korea
Republic
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Newcomers:
Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan ,Papua
New Guinea
DRM-ABU-AIR SHOWCASE PROJECT
MAY 2007, NEW DELHI

SIMULCAST - Transmitting Analogue, Digital
together ,Analogue 9 kHz, Digital 9 kHz
HD RADIO

Digital Radio Transmission Workshop and Field
Measurements in MW & FM Band” took place
from 10-13 February in Hanoi. It tested digital
radio HD Radio transmissions using the InBand On-Channel (IBOC) approach, where
broadcasters are able to transmit digital
signals along with analogue signals within the
existing allocated spectrum.
EMERGENCY BROADCASTING
Radio and Television broadcasters are planning
for more effective early warning systems in the
Asia-Pacific region by increasing the rate and
accuracy of information flows from
meteorological and disaster management
organisations to broadcasters.
Media organizations,
Emergency services , etc .
Earthquake Early Warning
relayed to public
Meteorological
Agency
▲
Data
dl
y
W
av
ly
Ear
ake
thqu ing
Ear Warn
▲
e
Seismograph
Se
co
n

ve
ary
im
Pr
Earthquake
Wa
Computer generate Earthquake Early
Warning upon detection P wave
0
5
10
1２
２２ Sec.
Time from Earthquake Early Warning until arrival of S-wave
Figure Ⅰ:Concept of Earthquake Early Warning
CONVERGENCE
Convergence of Operators
 Convergence of Services
 Convergence of Technology
 Convergence of Markets
 Convergence of Regulation
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DRIVING FORCES TOWARDS NEW ERA
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Telecommunications technologies are changing
rapidly.
The quality of the pictures and sound available is
increasing.
The number of available programs is multiplying.
New delivery mechanisms are appearing every day.
Viewers are becoming used to interactivity.
Consumers can now decide where, when and what
they want to see or hear; not the broadcasters.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Viewers don't 'buy' brands or technology - they
'buy' content. Technology is simply the gateway
to deliver entertainment services and
programming.
 Piracy-the unlicensed use, reproduction, sale,
or distribution of copyrighted material-is a
plague of the digital era. It is the largest single
threat to the survival of creative enterprises

THANK YOU