TU PANTALLA DIARIA

On february 17, 2009, the US switches permanently to Digital TV. Anolog TV will no longer be available. America isn’t that far away this time though. It’s a general evolution in the western world. The UK and Sweden have already begun with the transition.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines Digital Television (DTV) as “a new type of broadcasting technology that will transform your television viewing experience. DTV enables broadcasters to offer television with movie-quality picture and sound. It also offers greater multicasting and interactive capabilities.”

DTV doesn’t mean that you will be receiving everything in High Definition though. These signals are very big and expensive for the broudcasting companies. It is impossible for them to broudcast in High Definition all the time. Because it’s so expensive, usually HDTV (High Definition Television) is a paid service, that you can only see on a HD television set.

The transition has a price tag to it. The consumers have to buy a digital decoder to translate their digital signals into analog signals, if they do not have a TV-set, capable of viewing digital signals. The same goes for the broudcasters. They have to reorganise senders and frequencies and buy new infrastructure for the broadcasting of the digital signal. But the advanteges outweigh the negative side. The broadcasters can provide new channels, their broadcasting costs drop and it’s easier to license new series. There’s also an interactive motive: Digital TV allows the spectators to participate in quizzes and debates from their seat, pushing a button on their remote. The consumers themselves can enjoy more channels, Dolby Surround in their home theaters, the posibility to watch in High Defenition and an overall better quality of sound an image.

Digital TV in Europe

Sweden is one of the first European countries to introduce DTV, in 1999, as we can read in Alexander Witte’s paper on Digital Television. They started their transition from analog to digital already in 2005. They do this one area at a time, and by the end of 2008, whole of Sweden should be watching digital. This way, a lot more people can be reached. Before 2005, you could only receive Digital Television with a subscription.

The reason for the transition in the US is making the analogue space free for public organizations like the police and the fire department, while the UK mainly does it to reach more people. In most countries, not everyone is connected by cable, and a digital air-signal can reach more places than an analogue one. The Netherlands and Belgium are almost completely cabled. This had a negative effect on the development of satelite TV and digital TV.

In OECD communications Outlook 2005 we can see the European situation how it was two years ago. 50% of the television households in the UK was already watching Digital, while the Nehterlands only reached the 50% by the end of 2007. Sweden was the average with 27%. Belgium, because of its elaborate cable network, was the worst, except for the Chech republic, with only 5% having Digital Television. The Chech Republic only had 2%. Spain was doing alright with about 20%.

The UK still is the leading country, starting the transition this year, ending in 2012. A remarkable advantage they have in mind is the posibility to provide better television for people with bad sight or hearing. Special digital boxes allow subtitles, sign language and audio descriptions of what’s going on on TV.