Open, universal and free television, DTT, registers a continuous transfer of audiences to paid or online platforms. Digital terrestrial or open television arrived with the promise of more channels and higher quality compared to analog systems. But the irruption of smart televisions and payment formulas have not failed to show that the system is very vulnerable, despite being the only way to guarantee the right to audiovisual information for all, regardless of their purchasing power. DTT is now looking for a new revolution, digital audiovisual broadcasting over the Internet (DVB-I), to be where the other options are with their advantages: on-demand viewing with complementary information and from any device.
Peter Lanigan, representative of TP Vision and DVB-CM-I, creates a group to define the commercial requirements of TV and Internet services, creating the retransmission system to earth by antenna (DVB-T), by satellite or by cable enough and migration to the Internet is necessary “to compete with the quality and interactivity of online platforms, transparently unifying the channels for the user and allowing access to television services directly from the network without the need for an antenna.”
Currently, there is a hybrid system: a DTT by antenna, which does not allow viewing on other mobile devices, and individual applications of each chain available for smart televisions and other devices connected to the Internet with which you can access this content online. . Another way of resorting to platforms that include DTT content in luck, but are paid and are associated with fiber contracting.
Lanigan believes that DVB-I would solve this disadvantage: “It opens the door to being able to connect from any type of device, it allows television channels to offer additional content, such as implementing a playback service on demand that allows, in addition to watching television, live, select the programs to play them at a later time, offer extended information about the broadcasts and, in the case of on-demand television, continue watching a program on a different device”.
The proposed protocol is also compatible with 5G mobile telephone networks, so content can be accessed at high speed, in a stable manner and without being linked to a Wi-Fi home network. The goal, as summarized, is “to reach more users on more devices.”
The model is already being tested in Italy and Germany. In Spain, as explained by Pedro Vila, President of UHD Spain, the association that promotes Ultra High Definition in Spain, there is what he considers a “little brother” through Loves TV, a system that allows some receivers to switch to DTT content On line and in which the three main television groups participate: RTVE, Atresmedia and Mediaset.
Ángel García Castillejo, from Televisión Abierta, which brings together 100% of the free-to-air sector in Spain, believes that, although there is now a “coexistence” of DTT with content via the Internet, the future mostly depends on the latter through. “We can enrich and obtain much more content that otherwise would not be available because it requires interactivity.”
But García Castillejo highlights, above all, that it is to improve “a free television service to 100% of the population throughout the territory, without discrimination of a social or economic nature.”
In this way, it is not a question of eliminating the antennas, which would be possible for users who have a broadband or 5G connection, but of “expanding the possibilities of the DTT service without limiting the possibility of access through terrestrial waves ”, explains García Castillejo. “It is an extension, a complement, a development of what already exists and that nevertheless does not have to end the infrastructures and the forms of transmission and access that we have today”, he adds.
No object, the representative of Televisión Abierta believes that it is time to “think, from a legal regulatory perspective, how to guarantee that all citizens can access audiovisual content, understood as a service of general interest, as a fundamental right to information”. In this, he points out that it is necessary to consider how to get the service, under equal conditions, to people with limitations or a sense of resources to access broadband or 5G. “It is a debate that is taking place globally. In the case of Latin America, access to the internet is even considered as a fundamental right”.
Another rupture that must be faced is the model of presentation of the offer. The current model, of individual applications that require changing platforms and understanding each of the navigation schemes, makes it difficult for people less accustomed to the Internet and used to simply changing the channel (zapping) to use it. Many users access DTT through the contracted payment platform and that usually include open channels in their content offer. “Things can become complex, but the idea is that DVB-I is an extension of DTT with accessories, that it has a navigation structure and a philosophy similar to that of today”, comments Pedro Vila. “The idea,” he adds, “is that all of Europe has the same and on any device.”
All these aspects will be addressed at the end of the year at the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) world summit and with a ten-year implementation horizon.
“It also depends on how we organize ourselves,” Vila advised. In this sense, he explains that, while digital radio has led to the disappearance of FM in some countries, in Spain “it has not moved forward”. “The fact that the technology exists does not mean that the sector will have a favorable response, although I think that we would be very interested here,” he adds.
“In Spain”, completes García Castillejo, “it is one of the first countries in the world in terms of broadband penetration. We have availability of infrastructures. Another thing is the use we make and how we take advantage of this potential. In any case, without having this, we will not be able to consider the use”. “We have to work and be aware that development and technological evolution must be put into play with the possibilities that they provide without the loss of rights on the part of the citizenry”, he concludes.
One last aspect that television manufacturers will address. Each brand places its applications or those with commercial agreements on its first screens and relegates or limits access to others. “This is conditioning our access to audiovisual content and, in the end, there is a great risk that television receivers are the bottlenecks for free access to all audiovisual content,” explains García Castillejo. And he adds: “You can see it in the design of the remote controls. The colored buttons that give access to the DTT online functionalities are minimized when they do not disappear”.
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