| |
|
Issue 4: Reception in the Home
- This section considers the technology required to receive digital television transmissions in the home. It addresses the underlying question of whether the Government has a role to play in ensuring viewers have "open access" to a range of free to air and pay tv services through a single receiving apparatus.
- Reception of digital television requires the viewer to acquire either a set top box or other suitable digital receiving equipment (i.e. an integrated digital television receiver). In the short to medium term, the price of a set top box is likely to be significantly less than that of a digital television receiver.
- New Zealand is a relatively small market and it is therefore unrealistic to expect particular set top box technology to be developed solely for New Zealand. Rather, it is expected that technologies developed and used in other markets will be used in New Zealand.
- The following paragraphs highlight the complexity of the present technology, and the two competing arguments of standardisation and innovation. The advantages of adopting a "standard" set top box potentially run counter to continuing innovation and the provision of new interactive services through set top boxes.
Set Top Boxes
- The differing propagation characteristics of various frequencies used for digital television have led to different transmission standards being developed internationally for UHF terrestrial, satellite and cable services. Currently, different set top boxes are required for each type of service.
- Conditional access allows broadcasters to restrict viewers' access to programming, and thereby provide pay tv or pay per view types of services. Conditional access can be integrated directly into a set top box or can be provided through a "plug in" module. There are several different proprietary products used for conditional access. In all cases, a set top box equipped with conditional access is likely to require an access card authorised by the service provider.
- Set top boxes also have the functionality to provide various interactive services. The software which allows for interactive services is called middleware. The continuing evolution of middleware products and related services may lead to different middleware being used by different broadcasters, and further potential incompatibilities between the set top boxes available to viewers. Nevertheless, it is possible that a "universal" set top box or integrated digital television receiver may be available in the future, or at least that all boxes have certain minimum standards regarding reception. Product labelling to identify compliance with a minimum set of standards may be desirable to assist consumer purchasing decisions.
- Other technological developments may include greater use of in-built recording capability, and other consumer features such as the ability to record one programme while watching another. A particularly notable innovation is the personal video recorder (PVR), which allows the viewer to automatically exclude advertisements from recorded programmes. It is unclear what effect developments such as these may have on future advertising revenues for the free to air broadcasters. The future availability of improved receiving technology is also difficult to predict, as both technological and commercial factors are involved. It is reasonable to assume, however, that future development is likely to improve, rather than restrict, the features and choice available to consumers.
- The Ministerial Inquiry into Telecommunications recommended that the conditional access system used by Sky be "specified". Specification of a service would allow the Telecommunications Commissioner to define terms and conditions of access to the service. The Government has since decided not to adopt the Inquiry's recommendation. The Telecommunications Bill, currently before Parliament, does not include controls on, or regulation of, conditional access systems.
- Nearly all set top boxes are suitable for free to air transmissions that are not encrypted, but present hardware and software designs may limit some set top boxes to particular pay tv services. Commercial issues need to be resolved before a single set top box is able to access different pay tv services. The cost of the set top box would need to be separated from the overall cost of service provision, and sharing arrangements would need to be reached between operators. Some existing set top boxes may not be technically capable of using two different conditional access systems, however.
- It is unclear if industry players will agree on a common middleware package for all set top boxes, which would allow viewers and customers to access interactive services provided by different operators. Broadcasters have an incentive to do so as this would maximise their ability to reach viewers and customers. Conversely, a platform provider may seek to control access capabilities of the set top box for commercial reasons (i.e. to minimise viewer leakage to other services).
- In addition, public service broadcasters such as Television New Zealand may not in the future provide all their services on a free to air basis. For example, certain on demand and internet services may be on a user pays basis in order to generate new income streams and be self-supporting.
- The extent to which mandatory set top box standards may be necessary will also be influenced by the transmission technologies adopted. Clearly, a significant roll out of a terrestrial UHF network would provide greater opportunity to access digital services. This would minimise the potential for satellite services or the Sky set top box to become a "choke point" limiting consumer access to digital services.
|
|
