1. 1 Electronic Media Market in Poland and its Possible Changes as a Result of Digitalization of Terrestrial TV and Radio Broadcasting Andrzej Zieliński Polish Telecommunication Engineers Association Professor in National Institute of Telecommunications Member of National Broadcasting Council, May- December 2005 Minister of Communications, 1993-97

2. 2 Introduction Radio and TV broadcasting law of 1992 Dissolution of the governmental Radio and TV Committee Creation of the public TV company (TVP SA) and of the public radio companies Creation of the National Broadcasting Council (NBC) as regulatory body of the rtv market Emerging of the independent, commercial radio and TV broadcasters Fast development of the electronic media market

3. 3 Short description of the electronic media market state Prevailing position of the public TV company in TV market Balanced radio broadcasting market (there is no dominated company) 3 nation-wide TV networks (TVP1, TVP2, Polsat) 2 TV over-regional networks (TVN, TVP3), several regional (around 20 terrestrial programs) Third in Europe TV cable market (800 tvc networks, 5 mln audience about 200 programs) 3 satellite platforms, around 2,5 mln subscribers 4 nation-wide programs of the public radio and 17 regional, aroud 220 commercial programs Official total number of the RTV subscribers is unknown (we know statistics concerning payment of the rtv subscription), but every citizen of Poland has access to rtv services) The law of 1992 does not take into account technical progress (digitalization) Are still public media public or governmental? („media law” of December 2005) Frequency limitations of the terrestrial TV development

4. 4 Why is TV digitalization necessary? Overcoming frequency TV limitations Better use of an attractive part (TV range) of the EM spectrum (digital dividend) Higher quality at lower power of the transmission Possibility of an interactive TV and HDTV Internet inside TV MX Stimulation of the all national economy (especially electronic communication market) Stimulation of the pluralistic development of the electronic media market

5. 5 Digital TV switchover in Europe European common TV digitalization program (Seville 2000) In 2007: Finland, Nederland, Germany In 2008: Italy In 2009: Denmark, Sweden In 2010: Austria, France, Spain In 2012: Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, U.K. Switchover has to be done in EU by 2015 Additional information: USA-2008, S.Korea- 2010, Japan-2011

6. 6 First plan of the TV switchover in Poland Acceptation by Ministries Council on 04.05.05 Step by step procedure (region after region) At the beginning 2 MX-es (Warsaw, Poznan), at the end up to 8 Compression standard – MPEG-2 ( one MX capacity: 4- 5 programs or even more plus additional services up to 20% of the capacity) One year simulcast in each region Frequency reservation for MX operators due to beauty contest procedure Beginning of the operation – 2006, the end – 2014

7. 7 Second plan (first amended) September 2005 – NBC prepared regulation for beauty contest conditions regarding frequency reservation for MX operators The fall of 2005 – NBC decided to take MPEG-4 as a compression standard of TV signals; it gives: - 2 times more programs in Mx than in case of MPEG-2 - the opening of prospects for HDTV in terrestrial TV transmission December 2005 – NBC accepted new timetable of the switchover operation: - 2006 - beauty contest for frequency reservation for MX1 and MX2 - January 2007 – the beginning of MX1 and MX2 transmission in Warsaw and Poznan regions - 2014 - the end of the digital TV switchover in Poland

8. 8 Third plan (in preparetion) „Media law” of December’05 – new NBC, canceled second plan, 1.5 year of a pause in the works of the TV switchover preparation February 2006 – new idea of the TV switchover - proposal of Ministry of Transportation: - application of MPEG-4 standard of signal compression - at the beginning only one MX for all country with strongly defined program content (TVP1, TVP2, TVP3, Polsat, TVN, TV4, TV Puls) - operator of the first MX will be appointed due to administrative decision by Government - after implementation of first MX next MX-es will be established with operators selected due to contest procedure - beginning of the switchover operation – 2010, the end – 2014 (probably one MX implementation)

9. 9 Radio broadcasting digitalization There will be no radio broadcasting switchover Basic range (UHF: 87,4 – 108 MHz) of the radio broadcasting will be retained with analogue transmission Digital radio broadcasting will be offered in band 174 - 230 MHz and 1488 – 1599 MHz There is still possibility to put this services also in TV MX-es There is necessity to elaborate comprehensive plan of this next important socio-economical operation. There is no strategy plan in this area for Poland up to now.

10. 10 Conclusions Third plan requires the finishing up and necessary amendments; this work should be fulfilled up to the end of 2007 Big delay of the beginning of the TV switchover is groundless from economical and technical point of view Operation of the TV switchover should be accelerated and the beginning should be shifted from 2010 to 2008 Radio digitalization plan should be prepared in 2008 to begin the operation in 2009