| From Analog to Digital - The future of TV in the age of broadband technologies. |
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Today, in Asean we mostly see terrestrial transmission of TV signals via antennas, who broadcast the TV signals freely and people can select from a limited number of programs, which are offered by the TV stations. This service is often called “free-to-air”. In most countries there are also alternative Pay-TV providers, which offer a broader selection of programs via either satellite transmission or cable, to some extend are already digital.  Digital TV has a number of advantages over analog TV and requires as a first step just some upgrading of antenna equipment and a digital TV tuner. More modern TV set’s are already configured for digital TV and do not require any external tuner boxes. The most compelling advantage to national regulators is that digital TV requires less bandwidth than analog TV does and thus more programs can be distributed over the same spectrum and with that some frequencies can be freed for other services, such as the police or the military. For the consumers digital TV usually means better quality of pictures and sound, more programs and new data services. Some countries are now only broadcasting digital TV, among them are The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany Switzerland and since recently, the United States. In our part of the world Japan and China have set fixed dates for the conversion, Indonesia currently undertakes trials in Jakarta and Malaysia has called for tenders in Q3 of this year. Besides that, most Asean countries are discussing and already advertising the introduction of digital TV one way or the other. In relation to the transition to digital TV, some Asean countries have defined a broadband strategy or initiative to deliver high speed internet access to the households. The two topics of digital TV and broadband internet access are somewhat related, as the digital TV can utilize some of the massive infrastructure and current and new cables can be used to deliver broadband internet access to the households and vice versa. Once this has been done, we will see a whole wealth of new services emerging; one of them, most likely will be a new paradigm of how we watch television. Also important to mention is that many digital cable- and IP based systems, generically offer a feedback channel, which means you can interact with the system on the “other side” through your TV set or set-top box. Only this enables fully fledged interactive TV. This interactive option comes with a multitude of new services and thus offers a completely new experience to the viewers. It will be possible to offer interactive TV guides, which you can search for genres, actors or titles. Also “zapping” from channel to channel in a small preview window will be possible, without stopping the program you are watching. Pausing a program will certainly also be possible and you will be able transfer a program from one TV set to another or even to a mobile device at a fingertip. Even more exciting, however are the so-called converged services. Having the full functionality of the internet protocol on hand, operators can offer direct ordering of third-party services. Just imagine you are watching a TV commercial from your pizza delivery shop and the “order now” call, is not proving a call center number, but an interactive link to the menu of the pizza company. Now you can chose what pizza you would like to have and order it with a single click, using your remote control. Statistics and other supplemental information could be provided to sports programs and background information and hints to quiz shows. Even interactive participation in quiz and other game shows will be available in that environment and polls are no longer filling the pockets of your local Telco. To enable the operator tailoring the content offering to your liking, an on-the-spot rating feature will be available and you can also see how others have rated a program, before watching it. For the operator these are also clear advantages as viewer’s statistics and quotas can be done online. Advertisements can be done in context with the audience and their individual likings. This offers an increased revenue opportunity for the operators, which will help to justify the huge investments required to offer that service. At AIT we have dedicated resources to work in this environment and are committed to further developing these markets and with that contribute to a better way of watching television. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about our offering in this exciting space. |