 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2002 |
| Article no.: | 4 | |
| Topic: | Digital Broadcasting – Choice and Cultural Diversity in Asia – Pacific | |
| Author: | Graham Cradock | |
| Title: | General Manager | |
| Organisation: | TANDBERG Television Asia – Pacific | |
| PDF size: | 0KB |
About author
Graham Cradock is the General Manager of Tandberg Television Asia-Pacific. He is responsible for all commercial operations of Tandberg Television in the region, including northeast and southeast Asia, Japan and Australia. During the past few years at Tandberg Television, he has been instrumental in developing technology and business opportunities in the areas of Broadband Media, Digital Television Compression Technologies, Data Broadcasting, Mobile Digital Television and the use of wireless networks. Graham joined Tandberg Television’s Asia-Pacific team when he was appointed Director of Business Development, Asia-Pacific, in late 2001. Prior to this, Graham created new business development strategies in many areas while working closely with Tandberg Television’s commercial Team and R & D groups. Graham graduated with a Master of Engineering degree in Electronics and started his career with Mitsubishi Electric in Japan. Later, at NTL in the UK, he led the team that created the first digital terrestrial receiver. In 1997, Graham joined NDS Ltd. as New Business Development Manager in the sales and marketing department. In 1999, when Tandberg Television acquired the digital broadcasting business of NDS, Graham took on the leadership of the New Business Development Group.
Article abstract
Digital broadcasting will play a significant role in education, entertainment and maintaining cultural diversity in the Asia-Pacific region. Digital satellite can provide over 200 TV channels and digital terrestrial over 30. Digital technology makes possible a wide range of interactive applications. It facilitates entertainment services, data delivery via the television, e-commerce and e-learning. Digital makes it easier and cheaper to offer multi-language broadcasting; this is very important in Asia where countries such as Indonesia have large numbers of people speaking different languages.
Full Article
Throughout the Asia-Pacific region digital broadcasting has an important role to play in education, entertainment and ensuring that cultural diversity is maintained. Before we can examine how digital broadcasting can do this I would like to take a look at what I mean by broadcasting and why digital offers so much more than analogue broadcast technology. The Forms of Digital Broadcasting The main digital transmission systems are digital terrestrial, cable and satellite; with new systems such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) becoming increasingly important – particularly for Internet connectivity and the delivery of enhanced television services such as video on demand (VOD). Each transmission system has its own unique features and advantages. For example, satellite can cost-effectively distribute content to a wide geographical area, whether rural or urban, developed or underdeveloped, and to areas where terrestrial options are unavailable. Digital cable on the other hand, has the opportunity to give the consumer a wide-pipe return path for future interactive services as well as turbo Internet and other advanced data services. However, digital cable is time consuming to deploy and laying cable requires a large investment, so high in fact that it is unlikely that small communities many miles from the nearest town will ever receive it. Why is Digital Important? There are many times when digital seems to be used almost as a marketing label to sell new products and services – however, in the television world, digital really does make a huge difference. Digital communications is changing the face of broadcasting for the following reasons: • Digital is more bandwidth – efficient – digital compression means that much more data can be transmitted than is possible by analogue, over similar infrastructure. This is why digital satellite can now offer over 200 TV channels and why digital terrestrial can offer over 30 channels whilst analogue television offers but a handful of channels. • Digital systems are cheaper to design, deploy and run – the skills and equipment required to design, implement and run different digital communications networks are increasingly based upon the software, chips, hardware and protocols of the IT industry, which means there is a large repository of experience in using these tools for mission – critical applications. • Digital equipment can be ‘system aware’. In the past analogue equipment ‘knew’ little about the information that was flowing through it. Now digital equipment, whether in the network or in the home/office can handle data in an intelligent way. This reduces a broadcaster’s running costs for example, the network can be intelligently and automatically monitored reducing the human overhead required in keeping the broadcaster ‘on-air’. Consumer devices can interact with digital data to increase the functionality and richness of the end-user experience. A simple example is the video cassette recorder (VCR). When you set an analogue VCR machine, what you are really doing is asking the machine to record the output of a channel between two times that you define. If there is a late change to the schedule, you may miss the end of the film you recorded. The new Personal Video Recorders are, however, aware of the digital content that they are processing. So when you choose to record a film, that’s exactly what you get – even if the programme before the one selected runs over, or if a news bulletin interrupts the film. • Digital technology offers new revenue streams from interactivity, new entertainment services, data delivery via the television and e-commerce. Additionally it enables e-learning, making it much easier and cheaper for broadcasters to offer multi-language broadcasting; this is very important in Asia where some countries, such as Indonesia, have large numbers of people speaking different languages. All this means is that the business models of traditional broadcasting are being rewritten. For new broadcasters and channel owners the cost savings and speed to deployment of digital technology mean that it has never been easier for a new broadcaster to enter the market place. For organizations and companies that have good customer relationships, including billing relationships, it is relatively straightforward to provide broadcast video services. If you already provide telephony and/or Internet services it is a natural extension, Local regulators are beginning to offer TV services, perhaps becoming a ‘Triple-Play’ operator by offering all three. In Australia and Hong Kong utility companies are providing ‘fat-pipe’ connectivity to new housing and office developments (‘Cyber Cities’); similar activities are taking place in other parts of the Asia-Pacific, region including the Middle East, and this is set to be a trend that will become the commonplace throughout the region. An important characteristic of digital television broadcasting is the fact that it is a ‘one-to-many’ rather than a ‘one-to-one’ form of communication. The one-to-many paradigm of broadcast means that the price differential of transmitting data to one person and 100 million people can be negligible or even zero. Broadcast can also be tailored to different audiences. For instance, material of interest to different groups can be sent once and then captured in segments according to the separate conditional access (CA) of segmented groups of users. The data could be differentiated by language or religion and is likely to be become more important in Asia, as broadcasters search to gain market share by differentiating their offering from that of competitors. Broadcast technology has an obvious role in the multicasting of live Internet events and the transmission of up-dates to locally cached Internet sites as well as the distribution of timely general information such as news, finance and sport. Broadcast technology can also be a Trojan horse for other advanced digital communication technologies. As an operator builds its audience and its infrastructure it is easier to begin to roll out other digital services. For instance, an operator may begin in TV broadcast before providing Internet and then voice services as it moves to becoming a triple-play service provider. The Social Impact One of the major social and political issues is the emergence of digital divides in the global information economy. Whilst almost everyone has a telephone connection in developed countries, the figure for telephone penetration is only about two per cent in under-developed countries and around three per cent for PC penetration. However, a very large number of households worldwide, around seven out of ten, do have access to television. It is unquestionable then that digital television represents a new opportunity for economic and social development. It has the potential to become the first major vehicle to deliver the power of the digital economy to people who are unlikely to experience, understand and participate in the digital economy through the Internet. As the operator matures it is likely that it will bring in voice and Internet services to a region that may be have poor Telecomms infrastructure. The Cultural Impact A study titled ‘Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing’, funded by the United National cultural agency UNESCO, found, for example, that more than a hundred aboriginal languages became extinct in Australia during the last one hundred years. To counter this cultural loss, Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) now provides television and radio programmes in 68 different languages to Australia’s combination of different cultures. SBS news, interviews, current affairs, community information and music are all broadcast in their segmented ‘mother-tongue’ languages. The SBS mother tongue programming is playing a key part in trying to keep alive Australia’s cultural diversity. New digital technologies are also being designed and introduced to reduce to a minimum the start-up costs for digital broadcasters. The first digital broadcasters had break-even subscriber bases in the millions. By reducing the broadcasters investment in broadcast infrastructure and the unit costs of the consumers set-top-box, broadcast technology companies are now looking to enable broadcasters to be able to break-even with subscriber bases in the hundreds of thousands, which opens the door for broadcasters to target niche audiences, such as minority language speakers. In Asia, the ‘Atlas study’ states the longevity for minority languages is uncertain throughout the region. There is no doubt that the future for minority languages, where broadcasters produce mother-tongue programming, will be significantly rosier. Broadcast Technology Expands Education Virtual universities can also play a critical part in training people to participate in Asia-Pacific’s digital economy. Countries such as Malaysia and India are embracing the latest technology in distance-learning to create a workforce of high calibre. Malaysia, India and other countries in the region are looking towards virtual universities to train workers for the high-tech jobs of the future. Virtual universities are cheaper than setting up traditional institutions, and mean that the countries’ experts can spread information and best practice throughout a country or region, rather than at just one academic institution. International development agencies like the World Bank are enthusiastic about obtaining a ‘global classroom’. Many countries are drawn to distance learning by the fact that their existing educational systems cannot accommodate the vast numbers of students looking for a college education. E-learning offers a quick and cost-effective way to offer access to higher education on a mass scale. Satellite infrastructure is reducing the cost of providing Internet access throughout a country, and the return on investment per student can be many times more than the initial investment. The data networks aren’t just for education. Once trained, the student will need data communications when they take their place in a high-tech industry. Investing in education and communications infrastructure can provide a virtuous circle that becomes self-funding. India is the region’s obvious example, where without a well educated workforce and some good quality telecomms infrastructure it would have been impossible for Indian cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai to play so prominent a role in the global IT industry. Sports content is set for the next phase of evolution with providers offering a bespoke viewing package for the consumer. Sports broadcasting will be transformed into a ‘real’ participation medium and create an authentic ‘personal’ experience. The recent World Cup Football tournament in Japan & Korea permitted minimal digital engagement, with current interactivity extending only as far as allowing some consumers to make their own camera angle choice. By the time the 2008 Olympics takes place in China, consumers may even be able to choose an athlete’s point of view, indulge in real-time wagering as well many other additional features which have not yet been invented. (photo: Sports content is the next evolution) Online gambling already has already seen a steady increase amongst the public; this could soon be available at live events, moments before, for example, each set track race, with game statistics at the viewer’s fingertips. The digital revolution will change not only the services provided to consumers but the very nature of the relationship with the television viewer. For the first time, digital broadcasting will create direct lines of communication from the service provider to the consumer, enabling genuine interaction. Through this relationship, advertisers will get powerful feedback and immediate responses, and will communicate with more impact. Simultaneously, these technologies offer new ways for each participant to know its customers better than ever before, making possible levels of responsiveness never seen before. Asia is a region of enormous complexity and leadership in the communications industry. It has fast – growing markets, e.g. China’s mobile telephone market, innovative new developments, NTT DoCoMo’s I-Mode and Korea’s multi-player games industry, and fascinating opportunities to take a world lead in e-learning. I look forward to continuing to work in the Far East as the region takes TV broadcast and video technologies and moulds and adapts them to produce its own vibrant video future.
