PROSPECTS FOR DIGITAL TV Philip Laven Chairman, DVB Project Vice-Chairman, FOBTV NATEXPO, Moscow 6 November 2012

DVB STANDARDS DVB is a not-for-profit organisation that develops technical standards for digital TV DVB’s initial standards were: –DVB-S (digital satellite TV) in 1993 –DVB-C (digital cable TV) in 1993 –DVB-T (digital terrestrial TV) in 1995

DVB’s SECOND-GENERATION The second-generation standards are based on technologies that were not available in the mid-1990s or were too expensive at that time Each of the second-generation standards offers dramatic improvements in performance compared with the earlier standards DVB-T2 can deliver 50% more data than DVB-T DVB-T is typically used to deliver 24 Mbit/s in a standard 8 MHz channel DVB-T2 can deliver 36 Mbit/s in the same channel –with no change to the coverage area –with no increase in the transmitter power

DVB AROUND THE WORLD

DVB = SUCCESS Screen Digest TM study reported that “DVB is the most widely used transmission standard in the world”

HEADING TOWARDS 1 BILLION

CHALLENGES AHEAD Challenge #1 is to get people to adopt digital TV –consumers need to buy new equipment (set- top boxes or new integrated digital TV sets) Challenge #2 is to persuade everybody to stop using analogue TV –the analogue TV services cannot be switched off until ~99% of consumers have changed over to digital TV –it is easy to convert 50% of homes to digital, but the last 5% are much more difficult –this process can take up to 10 years

CHALLENGES AHEAD In 2005, the European Commission proposed the beginning of 2012 as the deadline for completing analogue TV switch-off in all EU countries Analogue switch-off has now been completed in 22 of the 27 EU countries The remaining 5 EU countries are: –Poland (July 2013) –Bulgaria (September 2013) –Greece (2014?) –Hungary (2015) –Romania (2015)

REGIONAL STANDARDS Different regional standards for digital TV might have been excusable when TV sets were rarely moved between countries High-quality portable displays (e.g. smart-phones and tablets) dramatically change the environment Achieving a single global standard is undoubtedly “easier said than done”, BUT it would be sad if the next-generation of digital terrestrial TV perpetuated the existing fragmentation of standards A unified standard would offer huge benefits for broadcasters, manufacturers and, above all, consumers

The FOBTV (Future of Broadcast TV) initiative was established by a declaration agreed in Shanghai on 11 November 2011 at precisely on 11/11/11

FOUNDING MEMBERS

A NEW BEGINNING? FOBTV is hopefully the start of a new era in which “global collaboration” will be the key principle Such enhanced collaboration is emphasized by the appointment of Mark Richer (ATSC’s President) as FOBTV Chairman and Phil Laven (DVB’s Chairman) as FOBTV Vice-Chairman What will FOBTV do?

GOALS OF FOBTV Develop future ecosystem models for terrestrial broadcasting taking into account business, regulatory and technical environments Develop requirements for next generation terrestrial broadcast systems Foster collaboration of DTV development laboratories Recommend major technologies to be used as the basis for new standards Request standardization of selected technologies (layers) by appropriate standards development organizations (ATSC, DVB, ARIB, TTA, etc.)

FOBTV There is no shortage of ideas in FOBTV –which ones are the most important? FOBTV must overcome other challenges: –The “not invented here” syndrome in which protagonists prefer their own technology over technologies suggested by others –“IPR stuffing” where participants suggest that a particular technology be included in the specification because their employer has a relevant patent

LOOKING FORWARD Continuing pressure on the spectrum means that broadcasters must adopt the most efficient technologies –modulation and coding systems –video compression systems Although many countries have still to make the transition to HDTV, some countries are considering the introduction of UHDTV We must not miss these opportunities for global standardisation...

CONCLUSIONS Russia’s adoption of DVB-T2 is absolutely the right decision Analogue switch-off will require careful planning –and lots of publicity addressed to consumers In the longer term, the next generation of standards for digital TV must be global... New spectrum-efficient delivery systems must –provide TV services to mobile and portable devices, such as smart-phones and tablets –meet the demands of SDTV, HDTV and UHDTV FOBTV is likely to lead such developments