Digital TV is not strange. We've known satellite for years, not so much, in our country, by cable. Now, in a quick process of a few years, another system comes to us: Digital Terrestrial Television (LTD). That is, the conventional wave propagated by the conventional antenna, but applying digital technology. Compared to the standard analog TV that is currently available in almost all homes, DTT has several advantages: the possibility to watch more channels, and better images and sounds, among others. In reality, the cable offers the highest quality, but the DTT has been boosted. There are several reasons for this, such as the problems of cable installation in countries with a rough orography, but in this sense DTT also gives a clear headache compared to the satellite. There is another more recent system, through ADSL, which for the moment is not very widespread but according to experts better than the others. Why then DTT?

The main reason has nothing to do with the demands of the viewers or the desires of the television channels. It is much more practical: the radio spectrum is not infinite. On the contrary, it is a scarce good, and digital technology offers the possibility of optimizing it. Where a channel is included in the conventional analog system, the digital system allows access to about four channels. This has led to the promotion of DTT throughout Europe, and in the rest of the rich world, over the last decade. The rest, the poor, are slowing down, but their turn will soon come. Of course, the implementation of the digital implies the elimination of the analog. It is necessary to leave “space” in the spectrum.

Half a dozen small European countries have already completed the analogue blackout. The rest will reach their destination in the next four or five years. In the Basque Country we have two dates: 3 April 2010 in the South and 30 November 2011 in the North. After that, we won’t be able to watch analog TV on our own.

The blackout and then what?

The universalization of DTT will affect our relationship with television in several areas. On the one hand, it will force the chains to redesign the contents, although it is not entirely clear how. But in one way or another, it has been done by the current model; the main television consumer associations in Spain have no doubt about it. “The business model of the big generalist chains will disappear,” says Alejandro Perales, president of the Association of Users of Communication (AUC); “today the viewers live selling but that will be exhausted with DTT.” If anyone remembers the slogan, “The announcement of so many seconds is worth so much,” let them forget. In the 21st century, deals with advertisers are made differently by TV operators: I guarantee that there will be a certain number of viewers in front of the TV at the time your ad is broadcast, and you have to pay me so much in return. This explains the importance of the audience battle. But the DTT will break large audiences, as the offer will be much wider. Hardly anyone will be able to attract two or three million viewers to the same program.

The same concept of grill will disappear, according to Perales. “The current grills are syntagmatic: one session leads you to another in a logical way. But with DTT the programming will be much more liquid, it will not depend so much on fixed schedules. There will still be a traditional audience and there will be some chains for them, but overall, I think most people will go to a similar universe on the Internet, with many more options to decide what to watch and when.”

The strength of the chains, still oriented to the analog

We are now in the age of simulcast. The analog hasn’t disappeared, but it can already be seen digitally. In the Basque Country, both in the North and in the South, the issuance by LTD began in 2005, as required by law. Mainstream television sets that can be viewed in analog have digital channels. This could give us a good impression of what can be seen in the digital age, but it is not advisable to trust it. Today, there are still too many people who can't see DTT. The business continues in analog, and most of the efforts are focused on it. At first, when they were forced to open the digital channel, they began broadcasting the same programming that most of the Spanish generalists had in analog. Later, stimulated by the Government of Madrid, some new chains were created, but for the moment what can be seen in them is not very attractive.

“In my opinion, the big chains have not yet been aware of the revolution that is coming after the analog blackout,” says Maribel Martínez from Navarra. Martinez is a spokesperson for the FIATYR Federation of Public Associations. For him, the audience that can be held by a single session is becoming smaller and smaller. It’s a process that has already begun, but the big private chains that base their business on advertising sales apparently prefer to keep auditioning. They won’t be able to hold that position for long.

How will DTT affect programming?

Specialization is the key. In the absence of large advertising sales, chains will have to look for profits elsewhere. The most logical evolution will be the creation of thematic channels, following the current satellite and cable model. And as in them, the channels will be paid.

That would be logical, yes, but there are some obstacles. In Spain, a Royal Decree of three years ago states that DTT can be viewed free of charge. The decree leaves the door open to the creation of payment formulas as as well, but without specifying too much the path. Among other things, the government is committed to exploring this option if the chains agree on the issue. So far, this consensus has not been reached. Private chains are clear that the future will be paid, but they don’t agree on the right time to make the move. There are commercial strategies involved. Pay-TV needs marketable products if it’s going to win over viewers. And the selling products are mainly two: cinema and football. Since cinema is accessible to everyone, the fight for access to football is the key. Thus, La Sexta, for example, has based its entire business strategy on becoming a payment chain in the future. He played football well. But the legislation is hindered, and other networks, which are not so well positioned in this race, will not make any special effort to change this status quo.

We talked about football and film. And the rest? What will happen to other traditional types of sessions, such as competitions? Apparently, they don’t seem to be attractive enough sessions to pay for a subscription. But the networks will hardly resist the free broadcast of them if the number of spectators falls. Advertisers are not stupid. In this way, the associations of spectators ask the networks to bet on quality programming, but without much hope. The key could be public television. “The guarantee of being able to watch free and quality programming in the digital age must be public television,” says Alejandro Perales.

A new relationship with television

There is another way of doing business: selling on TV. Don’t confuse it with annoying teleportes; this is something else. The president of the AUC believes that television will be a great channel for shopping. Perales refers to both everyday purchases and others. “A full session can become an advertising medium. I will watch a movie and buy the costume that the protagonist wears at the same time. Or that I’m watching the show about my favorite hobby, I’m going to have the opportunity to constantly buy products that have to do with that hobby.” Like internet banners, but with the advantage that many people have the Internet, all of them TV.

This type of opportunities and much more will be offered by DTT thanks to the main innovation that digital technology will bring: interaction. Pressing the TV button will turn on more than just the TV when the TDT is set. Perales says that the distinction between Internet and television will also disappear, since in both cases we will find similar services. In the Information Society, it will be ideal to talk about terminals. Two types, explains Perales, fixed and mobile. “And the fixed will be the same as both the computer and the TV set. These boundaries will be quickly blurred.” And it's blurring: In France, before the end of the year, a USB device will be marketed that will allow DTT’s channels, known in French as digital television, to be seen on the computer.

But this future will come to us not at the same time as the analog blackout, but later. To explain it better, let’s take a look at the evolution of the whole DTT implementation process.

The road to the shadows

In order to provide a blackout, three conditions must be met. On the one hand, signal propagation is required, which requires changes in today's transmission systems. Every TV operator has to take care of this by paying the expenses from their pocket. In Spain, the goal established by law is that by the day of the analog blackout, 98% of the population will be able to receive the signal from public television and 96% from private television. At the moment, the deadlines set by Madrid are being easily met and it does not seem that there will be any major problems.

Secondly, households must be adapted to host DTT. But there is a problem: 80% of the population lives in community buildings, in which the consent of all the neighbors is required to adapt the antenna. In addition, the process of adaptation is not a couple of days. But things are slow. FENITEL, the Telecommunications Installer Federation, warns that if things don’t accelerate, it might not be possible to meet the established deadline. At the time of writing this, about 60% of community buildings in Spain have already been adapted.

The third requirement is to be able to see DTT at home. There are two options: buy a new appliance, or add a decoder to the old one. Problems here too. The AUC denounced in the spring of this year that it was selling too many appliances that are not valid for receiving DTT. 78,000 in February. In France, it is forbidden to sell them since March, although the blackout will take place later than in Spain.

Jesús Casado, a member of ASIMELEC – the employers’ association of audiovisual technology manufacturers – denies that there is a problem in this regard. “Right now, DTT is selling a small amount of useless gadgets, and they are always small gadgets that are bought to be placed in the kitchen, not the main TVs in the house. Since March, 97% of the big TVs sold are adapted

to DTT.” Adapted, but not entirely. As we have already said, interactivity will be the biggest innovation that DTT will bring us. But to enjoy it it is essential that television sets or decoders are equipped with a technology called MHP, and most of those currently sold in the Spanish State, almost all of them, do not have it. Manufacturers do not want to produce devices with MHP because TV stations do not offer interactivity services and buyers refuse to pay 100 euros more for a service that costs them little. The chains use the opposite argument: why develop these services if the necessary technology is not commercialized? It is not clear how the wheel madman will be freed, but Jesus Casado does not hesitate: “The main drivers of interaction and other added values of DTT must be public television.”

Conclusion: an unsolicited revolution

It seems that DTT has not benefited the networks or the viewers very much. The first ones were satisfied with the business system based on advertising. On the other hand, the viewers will acquire significant advantages, but those who wanted these advantages already had them, through the digital system or the cable. “The rest simply didn’t need more, nor the desire to immerse themselves in antenna adaptations and sauces like that,” says Alejandro Perales. “They were doing great with seven to eight analogue TV channels.” We didn’t need it and we didn’t ask for it ourselves, but the revolution has come to us. We have to learn to choose well.