EBU strategy for broadcast/telecommunications convergence Franc Kozamernik European Broadcasting Union.

EBU strategy for broadcast/telecommunications

convergence

Franc Kozamernik

European Broadcasting Union

Agenda

EBU in the nutshell

Broadcast vs. telecom

Possible synergies of broadcasting, telecommunications and internet

Possible scenarios

Conclusions

European Broadcasting Union - EBU

The EBU is the largest professional association of national broadcasters in the world

Founded in 1950. Merged with OIRT in 1993.

69 active members in Europe, North Africa and Middle East and further 45 associate members

Eurovision and Euroradio satellite/terrestrial networks

Programming, legal and technical activities

Broadcasting vs. Telecoms

Both broadcasting and telecommunications are important industries and both are playing their respective role in our societies.

Both are mature industries and both have been highly successful, since several decades, in terms of building up

a large consumer base,

huge turnouts,

large numbers of radio/TV receivers and telecom terminals used,

extensive infrastructures

large numbers of workers

Broadcasting vs. Telecoms

In the past, they have been evolving separately in different directions as two entirely different entities.

Since last two decades, both industries made significant progress in adopting digital technologies.

More recently, they embarked into packet-based technologies and the development of multimedia services and applications with the following common features:

increased mobility,

geographical and time independence,

individualisation and personalisation,

Interactive and on-demand services,

better technical quality and increased security

Broadcasting vs. Telecoms

It is important to understand the differences between these separate industries

Telecoms is mainly “one-to-one”

Broadcasting is mainly “one-to-many” - All users tuned to a given channel receive the same content

From the all-important perspective of users:

Both models will continue to be needed for different types of services and applications

Both models have advantages and disadvantages

Broadcasting vs. Telecoms

Economists designate free-to-air broadcasting as a “public good” because the marginal cost of extra viewers or listeners is zero

Telecoms operators get more revenue as the use of their networks increases

Broadcasters are mainly interested in content

Delivery technologies are incidental to them

Telecoms operators are mainly interested in delivery systems

Content is incidental, but will become more important as the impetus for new services

Multimedia convergence at different levels

Coretransport

Serviceprovision

UserTerminal

BroadcastNetwork Internet

Broadcaster

Internet / Telecom Provider

Core NetworkIP, ATM, SDH,

WDM

NodeNode

POTS ISDNxDSL fibre

GSM GPRS UMTS

POTS ISDNxDSL fibre

GSM GPRS UMTS

HeadendHeadend

HFCLMDSHFC

LMDS

Access

Broadcasters

Sound radio and television are the most important mass media and play a major and irreplaceable part in the lives of the people

Radio is simple, ubiquitous, free service, non-expensive receivers, mobile and portable, user-friendly, informative and trusted medium

Television is more sophisticated, used in the home/family, provides entertainment, information and education

Both radio and TV are in the process of radical changes and move towards digitisation and multimedia

Content

The choice of TV services available to the average consumer has increased dramatically, but expenditure on new programmes has not kept pace with this expansion

Traditional broadcast services (i.e. one-to-many & one-way) will continue to be important because mass audiences are required to cover the costs of high quality content production

Broadcasters will also embrace the opportunities offered by multimedia services and applications, including “interactive” and “on-demand” services

Users will transform themselves from passive consumers to active creators able to choose the content and presentation to their liking

Broadcast Delivery

Broadcasters (content providers) will probably become agnostic about delivery systems

The existing analogue terrestrial transmissions will remain attractive because they are almost universally available

Radio broadcasters can choose from:

AM

FM

DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting)

Internet & its successors

TV Delivery Systems

TV broadcasters will choose from:

analogue terrestrial

analogue satellite

digital satellite (DVB-S)

digital terrestrial (DVB-T)

digital cable (DVB-C)

digital MMDS (DVB-MC & DVB-MS)

Internet and its successors

UMTS or GPRS

broadband radio services (BRAN, MBS)

Digital Audio Broadcasting - DAB

Eureka 147 DAB system, first shown publicly in 1988 in Geneva Recommended by ITU-R as a a worldwide standard

Terrestrial system using OFDM modulation, very robust, 1.5 Mbs channel, audio and data (multimedia) services

300 million people in 25 countries worldwide are within DAB reach

Coverage in the UK is 79% of the population

509 different DAB services are available – 225 PSB, 284 CS

25 manufacturers are making 16 different types of consumer products – car, home, portable radios and PC cards

Prices to fall by 50% or more (to £99) by end of 2001!

Digital Video Broadcasting - DVB

Family of DVB standards based on ISO MPEG-2 – Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial and MMDS

De facto worldwide standard, flexible, robust, different bit rates and channels

Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) paves the way to multimedia

7 million BSkyB and 1 million OnDigital set-top-boxes in the UK

In UK, STB are given away for free – different business model than for DAB

Terrestrial DVB is bogged down by the spectrum scarcity in Europe

EBU Statement on “DAB versus DVB-T”

DAB is to serve radio communities

DVB-T is to serve television communities

Similar technologies (OFDM)

Different emphasis but complementary systems

Both are needed and both should be deployed

DVB-T cannot replace DAB, even not in a longer term

DVB-T is able to carry radio services but this may represent only a minority market

Both systems will be used for mobile Multimedia in future

Digital radio Mondiale - DRM

DRM is being developed to replace analogue LW, MF and SW radio below 30 MHz

Designed as a flexible system able to overcome adverse propagation conditions – deep and long fades, echoes and multipath

A variety of audio and channel coding options and modulation schemes to copy with different channel bandwidth requirements

Broadcasting to Mobile and Portable terminals

DRM DAB DVB-T

Channelbandwidth

9 kHz 1.5 MHz 7-8 MHz

Totalbitrate

24 kbs 2.3 Mbs 24-30 Mbs

Usefulbitrate

16 kbs 1.5 Mbs 16 Mbs

1 10 100 1'000 10'000 100'000

UMTS

Stationary

Pedestrian

Mobile

Bit rate (kb/s)

144 kb/s

384 kb/s

2 Mb/s

UMTS and other radio technologies

1 10 100 1'000 10'000 100'000

Stationary

Pedestrian

Mobile

Bit rate (kb/s)

GSM

DVBsatellite

DVBterrestrialDAB

UMTS

PSTN

ISDNxDSL

DVBcable

GPRS

Analogue-to-digital transition

Digital technology must be significantly “better” in any respect than analogue radio for all players, especially for consumers

An agreed introduction strategy and concerted/synchronous efforts of all major players at a national level

public service and commercial broadcasters

new content providers

receiver/transmitter/IC manufacturers

network operators

spectrum regulators

retailers

users: customer awareness

Public and governmental support is absolutely needed

A national matter

Each and every country in Europe has very specific economic, cultural and media regulation situation

Broadcasting (and electronic media) is a matter of national states or even regions (e.g. Germany)

Any implementation plan and analogue switch-off strategy should take into account national broadcasting diversities and national priorities

International organisations and associations such as EBU are valuable but cannot replace national efforts and decisions. They should however provide common technology standards, implementation guidelines, lobbying, promotion and advice

Governmental decision

Digital may take several years to reach the level of the present analogue broadcasting

Transition to digital may be much slower than expected unless there is a concerted effort at a a national level

Broadcasting will ultimately become digital, but at what stage the analogue stations may be withdrawn?

As the transition is a costly exercise, small and commercial stations may remain on analogue for very long

A governmental announcement of the analogue withdrawal deadline at an early stage would have a positive effect

Analogue Switch-Off

A timely announcement of Analogue Switch-Off (ASO) by the national government will have the following advantages:

A CLEAR SIGNAL TO ALL PLAYERS about the intentions of the government and will accelerate A-D transition

NETWORK PROVIDERS - will reduce transmission cost which is now doubled due to simulcasting in analogue and digital. More money will be available for the completion of terrestrial networks

ADMINISTRATIONS/REGULATORS - will be able to use parts of the analogue spectrum soon after ASO

CUSTOMERS - will be encouraged to purchase digital STBs as of now

MANUFACTURERS - will sell more digital products and the prices would go gradually down, diversity of receivers will increase

Interactive Multimedia Broadcasting

LEVEL 1: LOCAL INTERACTIVITY - storage in the terminal (e.g. TV Anytime)

LEVEL 2: ONE-WAY RETURN CHANNEL

LEVEL 3: TWO-WAY INTERACTIVE CHANNEL

*

LEVEL 1 Interactive Broadcasting

No return link needed

Internal storage device in the user terminal to allow:

linear programmes to be consumed in a non-linear manner (e.g. a news bulletin)

users to “order” a programme to be recorded by a single click during a trailer

intelligent agents to record programmes that they “think” you might want to listen to

sophisticated interactive multimedia information services, continuously up-dated and available instantly to consumers

automatic indexing of recorded programmes

Examples: TV Anytime Project, TiVo

LEVEL 2 Interactive Broadcasting

Interactive Broadcasts can be further enhanced by the use of a narrow-band return channel (e.g. GSM, GPRS, UMTS, Internet)

DAB or DVB-T can be used as forward transport media in connection with return channel

Return channel connects the end user with the content originator:

content provider

service provider

multiplex provider

Supplementary individually addressed traffic

Possibility for secure encryption or charging mechanisms

LEVEL 3 Interactive Broadcasting

LEVEL 3 allows for PERSONAL BROADCASTING

DAB or DVB-T used as transport medium for broadcast and individually addressed traffic in connection with an interactive channel (e. g. PSTN, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, Internet)

Highly assymetric services

Requires roaming/handover network functionalities

Requires secure encryption and charging mechanisms

A WorldDAB project “DAB/Mobile” using SIM and Java card for transactions will start in the autumn

Joint UMTS Forum / DVB Forum group (see TM 2466)

Scenario 1: Integration at the terminal level

Broadcaster(s) MuxDxB

TXMobile terminal

Base

StationMobile OperatorISP

DTV

Data carrousel

DVB or UMTS

DVB-T

UMTS/UTRA

Scenario 2: IP services on co-ordinated UMTS and DVB networks

Broadcaster MuxDxB

TXMobile terminal

Base

StationMobile OperatorISP

DTV

Data carrousel/ multicasting

DVB or UMTS

DVB-T

UMTS/UTRA

Scenario 3: UMTS as an interaction channel

Broadcaster MuxDxB

TXMobile terminal

Base

StationMobile OperatorISP

DTV

Data carrousel/ multicasting

DVB or UMTS

DVB-T

UMTS/UTRA

ITV RC

Scenario 4: Delivery of DVB TV over UMTS

Broadcaster

UMTS terminal

Base StationMobile OperatorISP

UMTS/UTRA

DTV B-UMTS BS

TV on demand

Scenario 5: UMTS network with an integrated DVB-T downlink

Mobile terminal

Base StationMobile OperatorISP

UMTS/UTRA

DVB-T TX

Data carrousel/ multicasting

DVB-T

Broadcast Multimedia Services

News and sport

Weather

Special events

Polling and voting

’Tell me more’

Infoseek

Travel information

Traffic information

Navigation

Internet access

EPG

Near video-on-demand

Games

Oriented advertisment

Home shopping

Electronic banking

Mobile office

Education

Interactive training

Handicap support

IP over broadcast channels

DAB and DVB broadcast channels have relatively large bandwidth but for regulatory reasons only a small portion (typically, less than 20%) can be used for data services such as IP multimedia

Access to web pages via broadcast channels is fast and reliable

Broadcasters may adopt a concept of a “Walled garden”:

Pre-selection of Web pages limits the usefulness of this service compared with full Internet access. Broadcaster decides on a selection of “best” sites and transmits the same sites to all customers

Customers can browse locally between the sites chosen by the broadcaster.

Interaction channel is provided by a telecommunication channel

Push Technology

Push technology is similar to broadcasting - “one to many”

Multimedia files are pushed from a broadcaster as e-mails to the subscriber computers (typically several hundreds only)

different from broadcasting is that users can only receive their “narrowcast” information according to their individual “user profile”

“Push” services delivered over the Internet allow users to specify their interests:

news items about specific subjects, share prices for a particular company, etc.

The user’s computer periodically checks if any relevant new information is available, and downloads it for display

The number of subscribers could increase if “dial-up” connections are replaced by “fast Internet” broadcast channels

Webcasting

Broadcasting over the internet - complementary to conventional over-air broadcasting

Continuous live streaming

On demand streaming

On demand downloading

Global access, full interactivity, personal filters, niche themes, audience monitoring

Poor technical quality, but HOW POOR ?

Compression schemes

Network bandwidth, packet loss, jitter

Possible areas of common interest

Common receiver/terminal (human-machine interface)

Portable/personal terminal (possibly integrated with a PDA)

Common API protocols, interfaces and metadata

Common networks and roaming strategies

Common billing/security/transactional models

Common IP technology for multimedia

Conclusion

There are opportunities for broadcast and telecommunications to work together

Synergy of the two platforms can strengthen both and enable new services and applications to develop

UMTS should preferably be used for individual communication

Broadcast channels are suited for high bitrate media distribution to large audiences

Several scenarios for practical cooperation are possible

Joint development and market activities are necessary to futher the business opportunities.

Conclusion In future broadcasters will probably become agnostic about delivery

systems - they will use any broadcast or non-broadcast channel if it offers clear advantages for their audiences

Broadcasters will use a variety of receiver terminals to reach their audiences

Broadcasters will focus on

the provision of rich content,

increase diversity of programme choice

develop attractive data/multimedia applications

interactive broadcasting services