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ITU Regional Seminar ‘Transition to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting and Digital Dividend’ Budapest, 06 November 2012

Terrestrial broadcasting in Europe and the Digital

Dividend

Elena Puigrefagutpuigrefagut@ebu.ch

European Broadcasting Union

80+ active Members from 56 countries

40 associate Members around the world

470+ TV channels and 900+ radio channels

195 mil TV households and 600+ mil viewers every week

More than 60 mil people visit EBU Members’ web services every day

www.ebu.ch tech.ebu.ch

Association of public service media organisations

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470-862 MHz (49 channels) planned for DVB-T in Region 1 – GE06 Plan

470 MHz 862 MHz

UHF Band

Spectrum allocations to broadcasting

The UHF spectrum allocations

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting2006

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting

790 MHz

61

BC + Mobile2007

470 MHz 862 MHz

21 30 40 50 60 69

Broadcasting

790 MHz

61

BC + Mobile

48

694 MHz

BC + Mobile2012

470 MHz 862 MHz21 30 40 50 60 69

790 MHz61

BC + MobileBC + Mobile2015

694 MHz

48

XX

X

The impact on the terrestrial platform

New interference situation to be addressed: potential interference from new Mobile services using the 790-862 MHz band

Special mitigation techniques are needed to protect DTT services

59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69

790 MHz 862 MHz

Electronic communications networksBroadcasting

58

Frequency channels

No DTT multiplexes/layers

Loss

2006 49 6-8 -

2007 40 5-7 18.4%

2012/2015 28 3-4 24.5%

Total 43%

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470-862 MHz offers a very good balance between antenna size and coverage/network costs

The importance of UHF frequencies

High value frequencies for Mobile operators

• Will they be ready to pay so much for the 700 MHz?

800 MHz auctions:

In Germany

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Italy Germany France Spain Sweden Denmark

800 MHz auctions€/MHz/pop

In European countries

The costs of refarming should not be underestimated...

How much will it cost for the 700 MHz?The bill should not be paid by broadcasters, network operators or viewers

Affected channels

No Transmitters affected Estimated cost

UK 61-62 (DTT)

69 (PMSE)

230 transmitters240 repeaters

€100-200 millions (total)

€5-20 millions (total)

Netherlands 61-69 43 emisores(cambios en 20 emisores,

12 nuevos repetidores)

€13.5 millions (network cost only)

Germany 61-69 10 emisores700000 SAB/SAP

€277 millones

Spain 61-69 ~2000 emisores~3500 repetidores

?

Some examples related to the 800 MHz:

It is more than that

• Spectrum is a scarce natural resource with high public value

• Spectrum is essential for making free-to-air content available to as many citizens possible and fulfilling public obligations: information, education, entertainment, culture and identity, cultural diversity, social inclusion, citizenship, public sphere

• The available spectrum should be used to maximise the benefits for the end users:

• maximum choice, maximum quality, minimum cost

the radio spectrum cannot be manufactured

About Terrestrial Broadcasting

Some DTT services launched

Analogue Switch Off (ASO) completed

ASO process underway

DTT services not yet formally launched

Digital Terrestrial TV in figures

•Programme offer in Europe (June 2011) • 1800 channels in the EU27+ Croatia and Turkey• 820 national channels (compared to 500 in April 2009)• 54% of the channels are local• 47% of the channels are free-to-air, 53% pay-TV• HDTV available on DTT in 13 countries• 60% FTA channels are private, 40% public (92% of pay-TV are

private)

•The fastest growing broadcasting platform• More than 200 millions of DVB-T receivers sold• DTT will cover 95% - 99,9% of households in most European

countries

•Viewing• viewing time of linear TV is about 4 hours/day and increasing• time shifted and on-demand viewing is increasingly popular• TV is the most popular single platform for audiovisual content• the social aspect of TV reaffirmed through new social media

Delivery of media services (1)

Once upon a time ...

Radio

broadcastingRadio

broadcasting

TV broadcasting

TV broadcasting

Delivery of media services (2)

Today ...

Delivery of media services (3)

Delivery of media services (4)

Terrestrial Cable xDSL Fibre Mobile

Why do we still need terrestrial broadcasting?

Satellite

BROADCAST BROADBAND

TV Reception, EU27 Households

Data from Eurobarometer 362, 2011. Adds to more than 100%.Households may use more than one platform.

TV Reception, EU27 Households

“Terrestrials” - approx:120 million households275 million people

25-50%

50-75%

< 25%

>75%

Data not collected

The terrestrial broadcasting networks are a key delivery infrastructurefor public service media in Europe

• Technically efficient

• Near-universal coverage

• Cost efficient

• Free-to-air

• Legacy receiving equipment

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES

Criteria

REACH

COSTS

PUBLIC SERVICE

No other delivery platform combines all these features to the same degree as DTT.

Does all of this demand

have to be satisfied

only by mobile networks?

Cisco: ‘Globally, mobile data traffic will increase 18-fold between 2011 and 2016.’

Are there other solutions to satisfy the capacity?

More spectrum for broadband wireless is a short term solution for (video) data tsunami

BROADCASTING BROADBANDor

- universal coverage- free-to-air- guaranteed quality- technical excellence- cost efficient- European standards- economic value- social value- ...

- broadband for all- any service, anywhere, any time - unlimited choice- global connectivity- economic growth- global standards- ...

This is a false dilemma!

AND

Mobile broadband• average DL speed ~3 Mb/s• maximum DL speed is higher• UL speed is much lower

DL(downlink)

UL(uplink)

Terrestrial broadcasting• 100 – 200 Mb/s (for roof antennas)• can be higher with DVB-T2• could be used for different things

EU broadband targets 2020:- universal coverage with ≥ 30 Mb/s- min 50% population to have access to ≥ 100 Mb/s

To be done

Mobile

1. Include broadcasting receivers in mobile devices (smartphones and tablets)

To be done

1. Include broadcasting receivers in mobile devices (smartphones and tablets)

2. Facilitate cooperation between terrestrial broadcasting and mobile broadband networks

3. Enable spectrum sharing- broadcasting and PMSE- broadcasting and mobile broadband- PMSE and mobile broadband

4. Promote the use of technology that is optimal for a specific service to be delivered

Thank you for your attention!

Elena PuigrefagutE-mail: puigrefagut@ebu.ch

Web: www.ebu.ch tech.ebu.ch