European Regulators Urged to Promote Wide-Screen TV to Spur DTV Takeup
European telecom regulators should encourage the rollout of wide-screen TV in order to spur digital broadcasting, according to a study presented to the European Commission (EC) in Dec. With several of the “chicken-and-egg” problems that led to market failure in the 1990s now resolved, wide- screen format should be able to “play its role in the cluster” of DTV technologies, said Eurostrategies, a joint subsidiary of 3 consultancies -- BIPE Conseil (France), Interconnect Communications (U.K.) and European Research Assoc. (Belgium).
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The European Union has been trying to promote the development of wide-screen TV since the early 1990s, the report said. From 1993-1997, it ran a Wide-Screen TV Action Plan aimed at supporting the production and broadcasting of wide-screen programs. The objective, the report said, was to break the cycle of “no 16:9 programmes produced if no wide- screen sets to receive them and vice versa.” At the time, development of wide-screen TV was hampered by several technical and economic factors, including: (1) Lack of consumer awareness and hesitation due to the variety of systems and standards. (2) Lack of availability and high prices of wide-screen sets in some countries. (3) Lack of a concerted promotion effort by the industry. (4) Failure of some member states to support wide-screen TV at the national level.
Now, however, “the television landscape in the European Union has changed considerably,” the study said. Wide-screen TV has developed significantly and has become a key issue in the deployment of DTV across Europe. In response, the EC crafted a 2-phase approach to resume promoting wide-screen TV as a strong catalyst for DTV rollout. In 2004, the Commission issued a working paper to assess action to date at the EU level. In the 2nd phase, member state authorities and market players will develop their own wide-screen actions tailored to their specific contexts. The Eurostrategies study was commissioned by the EC to improve information and awareness about the role of wide-screen TV in DTV deployment in each member state.
There may still be obstacles to wide-screen rollout, the report said. The first is a lack of competition. Many European countries face monopoly situations in digital multichannel TV by satellite because of business failures and mergers. Without competition, the report said, consumers won’t have access to what they want or need, such as wide- screen programming. A 2nd potential roadblock is industry misperceptions about wide-screen broadcasting costs.
Analysts’ conclusions about wide-screen included: (1) About 20% of European households now have wide-screen sets, a number expected to rise to around 50% in the enlarged EU. (2) By contrast, wide-screen broadcasting remains low in Europe, with only the U.K., Netherlands, Belgium ad Germany taking a proactive approach. (3) In some countries, players are trying to shift toward wide-screen before going to HDTV, while others intend to move to HD first and expect it to drive wide-screen. (4) There’s a lack of feedback between audiences, a fair proportion of whom have purchased 16:9 receivers, and broadcasters, who haven’t done much to develop a wide-screen strategy.
The study recommended that national regulatory authorities (NRAs) help raise broadcasters’ awareness of the existence of wide-screen technologies; require broadcasters to incorporate Wide Screen Signaling systems in their signal and manufacturers to ensure receivers comply with corresponding requirements; and hold broadcaster to their commitments to change policy in wide-screen when target thresholds for wide-screen set penetration are reached.
The report urged broadcasters not to wait for the advent of HDTV before promoting the wide-screen format; to devote more resources to market research to consumer opinions and behavior; and to develop 16:9 broadcasting during the transition period.
The report also tackled HDTV issues. It found that consumers often are unaware of HDTV because consumer electronics makers have been pushing other features, such as flat screens and wide-screen formats. HDTV faces several problems in Europe, the report said, including bandwidth, the need to renew set-top boxes installed by digital pay-TV operators to handle HD, and the need for Europe to decide between 2 existing HD formats, 720 and 1080 lines. On what could help fast-track HDTV, the report said “the market does not need direct subsidies nor additional obligations, but incentives, “regulatory carrots,” such as the allocation of free digital frequencies for HD.
Eurostrategies recommended that NRAs: (1) Encourage national broadcasters, particularly public service broadcasters, to commission HD productions in order to preserve the economic value and cultural diversity of catalogs. (2) Allow and encourage new-generation compression technologies such as MPEG-4.10 to increase bandwidth and lower costs. (3) Take a platform-neutral approach to HD.
The Eurostrategies report was unveiled at a Dec. 17 EC workshop. The Commission has scheduled a Jan. 21 workshop on HDTV (CD Dec 29 p3). Otherwise, there’s “nothing concrete on the horizon in the immediate future,” said Eurostrategies Managing Dir. Robert Taylor. “Our study contains recommendations to governments and regulators which the EC broadly endorses,” he said.