Page 46 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2012
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THE CHANNEL
|
COMMENT
The digital transitions seem to
come faster and more furiously
with each decade. The first wave,
still washing across some parts of
the world, was analogue‐to‐digital.
The payoff was immediate in terms
of the ability to pack more video
content into the same bandwidth.
Transmission service providers
hated it at first, because
broadcasters could pack multiple
channels into the capacity once
required for only one. But the much
lower transmission cost per channel
led to a blossoming of new
channels, which more than made
up for what service providers lost
to efficiency. Everybody won.
The second wave, still a work in
progress in many markets, was
standard definition to high
definition. Here, the payoff
was…nothing at all. Broadcasters
had to invest large sums of money
and buy more transmission
capacity just to stay competitive.
Gradually, advances in digital
compression pushed back the
amount of capacity needed to
transmit HD. But of the three
stakeholders – broadcasters, service
providers and viewers – only the
service providers and viewers saw
a real benefit.
The third wave, roaring toward
us, is the multi‐screen, multi‐faced
distribution model for video to
televisions, computers, tablets and
mobile devices. It is being driven
headlong by consumer demand
and technology adoption while the
business models remain far from
clear. Transmission service
providers are bullish, because
multiple screens and multiple
distribution paths require more
capacity, specialised technology
and expertise in digital formats and
transcoding. They stand ready to
provide all three. But for
THE
NEXT
DIGITAL
TRANSITION
broadcasters, there is still a huge
open question: is this movie going
to be Analogue‐to‐Digital, Part 2, or
will it be more like The Return of
HD?
Content is king, and in a world
of multiplying outlets to the
consumer, content owners should
be emperor. But until it is clear that
the multi‐screen world will
produce more revenue rather than
cannibalise the revenue they have,
broadcasters will proceed with
caution. They have seen what
digital downloads did to the
recorded music business, and have
d the lesson that you must
play the game in order to win it. So
they will partner with their service
providers, use outsourcing to
minimise capital investment, and
jointly seek the path forward that
meets their viewers’ needs while
positioning their business to profit
in the new era.
■
Robert Bell
, Executive Director of the
World Teleport
Association
which focuses on the business of satellite
communications from the ground up, with a summary
of the story so far
THE POST-OLYMPIC
BROADCAST BRIEFING
Top-level analysis and
knowledge-sharing for
heads of sport
12 October 2012
Wimbledon, London
