The Channel | 2004 | September

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We want digital radio, say Australians
Australians are eager to experience digital radio, with new research showing good consumer
interest in digital radio across all age groups. “The new research supports the industry’s position
that there is a strong potential consumer market for digital radio in Australia, and adds weight
to the argument that the Government should clear the way for its introduction,” Joan Warner,
chief executive officer of industry body Commercial Radio Australia said in July.
Broadcasters are conducting digital radio trials in Sydney and are in discussion with the Federal
Government over a policy and timeframe for its introduction. The industry views digital
broadcasting as critical to its future and has committed to investing an estimated $400 million
in building a national digital network in return for no-cost and priority access to digital spectrum
for existing in-band broadcasters. The first consumer research panels have also been formed to
gain feedback from a wide range of listeners, and leading advertising agencies have been
invited to take part in an advertising advisory panel.
Europe forging ahead of US with digital TV
The US is the largest and most competitive digital TV market in the world today, with more
than 45 million digital households at the end of 2003, according to a new report Digital TV
Markets 2004 by independent market analyst Datamonitor. In the US, cable operators dominate
the pay-TV market, but the satellite players are aggressively asserting their channel capacity
superiority and 100% digital network. Today, 80% of all US households receive some form
of cable or satellite TV. However, by 2006 Europe will represent a larger digital TV market
than the US, with some 63 million digital households, growing to 89 million by the end of
2008, close to triple that of 31 million at the end of 2003.
Following disappointing levels of digital TV growth in Europe, subscriber growth has renewed
with vigour. Datamonitor forecasts that by 2008, 59% of European households will have made
the transition to digital TV compared with 21% at the end of 2003. In contrast, the US will reach
52% by the end of 2008, almost 60mn households. Datamonitor expects the faster uptake of
digital TV in Europe to be driven primarily by the demand for digital terrestrial TV (DTT). In
terms of total digital TV households in 2008, Germany will lead with just over 21 million (56%
penetration), followed by the UK with 20.6 million (82% penetration, highest in the world),
France with 12 million (54% penetration) and Italy with 11.7 million (58% penetration).
TheAmericanmarket, by size, had the most digital TV households, withmore than 43million at the
end of 2003 compared to 31 million in Europe. On both sides of the Atlantic, cable, satellite and
terrestrial TV operators will seek to differentiate their services through technology. In the US
Datamonitor expects high definition TV (HDTV), video-on-demand (VOD) and personal video
recorders (PVRs) to be the weapons of choice. The cable operators will try to offer a superior
service by offering all three technologies, while the satellite operators will focus on HDTV and
PVRs. In Europe, PVRs will become more prevalent.
Meanwhile in France, the government has confirmed that the country will have a DTT launch
in March 2005, using the Europe-wide MPEG2 DVB-T standard. There had been discussions
on whether France should adopt MPEG4, for which there are currently no consumer receivers.
However in South Korea, DVB-T has lost out to the rival US digital television standard, with
an analogue switch-off date of 2010 planned for the country.
New leaders for BBC news operations
Richard Sambrook (right) is to become Director of the BBC’s World Service & Global News
division, responsible for developing the BBC’s overall global news
strategy across radio, TV and new media. He will be succeeded as
Director of BBCNews by Helen Boaden, currently Controller of Radio
4 and BBC 7. Helen will be responsible for all UK-wide news and
current affairs across radio, television and new media and for all BBC
News staff, including Newsgathering. Both take up their new
appointments in September, and will be part of the BBC’s new
Journalism Board, reporting to Deputy Director-General Mark Byford. The BBC confirmed
the appointment of Nigel Chapman as Director of the World Service, reporting to Richard
Sambrook on all World Service activities. Anne Barnard, Chief Operating Officer for BBC
World, and Sian Kevill, Editorial Director BBCWorld, will also report directly to Sambrook.
SES Astra gains playout facility
SES Astra is to acquire a 75.2% stake in DPC
(Digital Playout Center) from German Pay-TV
operator Premiere. The transaction, worth
€41.2 million, is subject to approval by
competition authorities. DPC (Digital Playout
Center) operates a teleport facility in Munich
and offers play-out, multiplexing, encryption
and satellite uplinks to broadcasters. Under
SES Astra, DPC will diversify by launching
Germany’s first and only “open” Pay-TV
platform using Premiere-compatible digital set
top boxes. The company expects that this will
significantly speed up the uptake of digital
and support the German government’s policy
of switching off analogue broadcasts by 2010.
Teletrax partner Media Review working
with Reuters in Australia
Reuters has contracted to use Media Review
International’s monitoring network to track
the broadcast of video content on television
in Australia. Media Review International (MRI)
is the Australian/New Zealand partner of AIB
member Teletrax, the world’s global video
watermarking service. This revolutionary
service tracks video content including news,
commercials, promos, music videos and
programmes whenever and wherever they are
broadcast over the air, on cable or via satellite
through a worldwide detection network that
monitors over 800 television channels in
nearly 50 countries around the world.
Satellite driving digital TV in Spain
Satellite TV has become the main driving force
behind the development of digital TV in Spain.
1.68 million homes receive digital television
through satellite, representing 12 per cent of
the 13.84 million TV households in Spain and
67.4 per cent of the 2.49 million satellite TV
homes, according to market research by SES-
Astra. Over the last six years digital satellite
TV has grown by 1.1 million homes. Satellite
TV is available to 18 per cent of Spanish TV
households (2.49 million) and in 2003 it had
a 7.2 per cent growth. By comparison, cable
TV - which had the fastest growth in 2003
with a rise of 33.8 per cent- can be received
in only 840,000 homes, 10.52 million homes
have only terrestrial television.
Zapping away from the ads
The company that came up with a software
solution called Tivion that automatically
switches to other channels, radio stations or
the Internet the instant it detects a
commercial, has been taken to court by RTL.
Germany’s private television networks which
rely on advertising see their livelihood being
threatened by the company’s products.
Members of the Federal Court of Justice ruled
that the sale of the advertising blocker by
the defendant does indeed make it more
difficult for commercial television stations to
do business, but it does not threaten their
existence. RTL said it is considering an appeal.
Quantel’s new generationQ for top LatAmbroadcaster
Quantel and its representative company inBrazil, PROTV, have announced that TVRecord, Brazil’s
second largest TV network, is to add four new generationQ systems – two eQs and two QEdit Pros
- to its already strong technological park. The network has also purchased four QEffects software
licenses. Sao Paulo-based TV Record is one of the largest communications companies in Brazil – it
currently has twelve state-of-the-art studios. In early 2003, Record launched its new Digital
Broadcasting Centre, consolidating its position at the technological vanguard of Brazil’s television.
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