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Inside view The number of pay-TV subscriptions held around the world increased by 32% between 2008 and 2013, according to data released by the ITU to mark World Television Day. The information, from the organisation's annual report Measuring the Information Society 2013, shows 55% of the world's TV to be digital, the halfway mark was passed in 2012. In 2008 the figure was still only 30%. By the end of 2012 there were 728 million pay-TV subscriptions, meaning that 53% of all households with a television had a pay-
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Globally, ITU figures show that there were an estimated 1.4 billion households with at least one TV set by end 2013. In the developing world as a whole, 72 per cent of households had a TV, compared with 98 per cent household penetration in developed countries. In Africa, fewer than one-third of households had a TV at end 2012. In the developed world, an estimated 81 per cent of total households with a TV now receive a digital signal. But the digital switchover is also moving forward apace in the developing world, where the number of households receiving digital TV almost
728 Million Pay-TV Subs Worldwide TV subscription. The report shows the traditional pay-TV providers, DTH platforms and cable operators are facing increasing competition from IPTV providers and even DTT channels. At the same time OTT-delivered services YouTube, Netflix and China's PPLive service are gaining in popularity. “New technologies are creating a plethora of new platforms for content sharing, which in turn is making television much more accessible over a wide range of devices,” said Dr Hamadoun Touré, SecretaryGeneral, ITU. “This is very important in the developing world, where TV continues to play an important role in education and knowledge sharing.”
tripled in the four-year period from 2008 to end 2012, reaching 42 per cent. In 2010, the worldwide pay TV market had 690.2 million subscriber households, an increase of 7.6% per year. With more than 490 million households, cable accounted for most of the subscriptions. Nevertheless, its importance in the Pay TV market is trending downward. Actually, cable still represented 79.5% of subscriptions in 2007 compared to 71.5% in 2010. In contrast, satellite increased its relative share as this reception mode went from 17.8% of all subscriptions in 2007 to 22.3% in 2010, or 154.1 million subscribers. Over the same period, IP TV gained 24 million households and its relative share grew by 3 points to 5.1%.
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Free-to-Air (FTA) Television Free-to-air (FTA) describes television (TV) and radio services broadcast in clear (unencrypted) form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription, other ongoing cost or one-off fee (e.g. Payper-view). In the traditional sense, this is carried on terrestrial radio signals and received with an antenna. FTA also refers to channels and broadcasters providing content for which no subscription is expected, even though they
may be delivered to the viewer/listener by another carrier for which a subscription is required, e.g. cable, satellite or the Internet. These carriers may be mandated (or opt) in some geographies to deliver FTA channels even if a premium subscription is not present (providing the necessary equipment is still available), especially where FTA channels are expected to be used for emergency broadcasts, similar to the 112 emergency service provided by mobile phone operators and manufacturers. Free-to-view (FTV) is, generally, available without subscription but is digitally encoded and may be restricted geographically. Free-to-air is often used for international broadcasting, making it something of a video equivalent to shortwave radio. Most FTA retailers list free to air channel guides and content available in North America for free to air use.
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Inside view StarTimes, already the largest paid digital TV provider in the Chinese Mainland with over 7 million subscribers, is the sole Chinese provider authorized by the Chinese government to operate in Africa. The company expanded its operations internationally in 2007 and now reaches 1.2 million customers abroad in a dozen countries. The 13 participating African countries will now be able to receive up to 130 international channels, including 5 CCTV channels. A StarTimes spokesperson said the company's green light to enter the African market will hopefully bring four million customers to its digital service by the end of this year. Speaking at the African Digital TV Development Seminar in Beijing yesterday, Pang Xinxing, CEO of StarTimes, said the acceleration of technology now allows ordinary people to watch and enjoy digital TV. Digitalization also brings clearer, richer content as well as added convenience, he added. Speaking at the African Digital TV Development Seminar in Beijing, Pang Xinxing, CEO of StarTimes, said the acceleration of technology now allows ordinary people to watch and enjoy digital TV. Digitalization also brings clearer, richer content as well as added convenience, he added.
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The expansion will not only open up a broader range of programming choices for African consumers, but increase China's exposure in the African world, providing a new arena for international exchange. Zhou Guizhen, a spokesperson for the international cooperation department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV, applauded the move, saying "It sets an example for Chinese private companies in Africa, and also creates a better platform of exchange.” Fomer Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo also praised the effort. "I think now is the time for further cooperation between China and Africa in the communication sector. It is important for the African people to know what China is like nowadays,” he said. African delegates to the conference discussed the challenges of bringing digital TV to African viewers. Yomi Bolarinwa, head of the Nigerian Communication Bureau, said Chinese providers may help reduce operating costs, which are seen by many a key hurdle to the sector's development. "It is quite clear that we cannot make the transition alone. We need it now, and the Chinese have the right technology and the right price,” Bolarinwa told attendees. Zhou Guizhen, a spokesperson for the international cooperation department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV, applauded the move, saying "It sets an example for Chinese private companies in Africa.
Chinese Firm Brings Digital TV To Africa
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Inside view A Conditional Access System, or CAS, is a type of system used in Internet and television broadcasts in order to restrict unauthorized users from accessing channels or services that they have not paid for and allow subscribers who have paid for services to access the specific services they purchased. Conditional Access Systems are most commonly referred to as “Pay-Per-View� services and are often used to restrict television channels. Conditional Access Systems work by scrambling data that is received by a network's satellites. While the data itself is freely broadcasted from land-based television transmitters to orbital satellites and then back to the user's receiver box, the Conditional Access System scrambles the received data before it reaches the user's television set by using a number of encryption methods. When a user has purchased a specific service or group of channels, the Conditional Access System unscrambles the data relating to that service or group of channels and allows the user to view the data instantaneously. While Conditional Access Systems are commonly used for Pay-Per-View applications, they are also often used to restrict Internet and telephone services from subscribers who have not purchased them. For example, while data is constantly being passed through a coaxial cable provided by a cable company, the data is encrypted in order to prevent it from reaching the user's modem. When the user activates his/her modem by purchasing the service, the modem is able to unscramble the data and provide that service to the user. Conditional Access Systems are advantageous because they are able to prevent unauthorized users from accessing data they have not purchased without interfering with subscribers who have purchased service. Conditional Access Systems are also advantageous because they are seamless and work without the user's knowledge. CAS (Conditional Access Systems) provides secure, controlled access to content broadcast by pay TV operators. CAS is the key to operators' revenue
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opportunities. Today's systems permit purchases using bankcards inserted into the set top box, hard disk content storage for viewing when convenient and real-time content ordering among others. The DVB Consortium's standardisation initiative has provided needed guidelines for the industry's development. Small businesses in the Asia-Pacific region should benefit from CAS both as users and as content providers. Digital broadcasting systems can provide a platform for a wide range of services that can be offered by small, local, businesses to the surrounding population.
Condi Accesstional System
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Inside view Though most people who've been through the digital switchover have found the process relatively problemfree, a fifth of those that Which? asked have experienced some problems. The digital switchover affects the TV signal given out by TV transmitters, so you'll need to retune any Freeview set-top boxes at the start and end of your switchover period to avoid losing access to some channels. Most people Which? spoke to who'd been through the switchover found retuning fairly straightforward, though some needed to help less technically minded neighbours. There should be guidelines on how to retune your TV's set-top box in the manufacturer's instructions. Retuning may result in your TV channel order changing, so if you suddenly seem to have lost some, check the full listing to see whether 'missing' channels are buried at the bottom of the list. This could also be the problem if you live on the border between two TV regions and have found that your electronic programme guide (EPG) is prioritising channels from another TV region. Some older Freeview set-top boxes might not work after the switchover. Unfortunately, the only option in this case is to choose a new Freeview box. If you buy a new Freeview box, buy one marked with the digital tick, which indicates that it's switchover compatible. Most Australians access digital TV through an antenna on the roof, while some require a satellite. There are many factors that can
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affect the quality of your reception. If you've installed digital TV equipment and you aren't receiving digital free-to-air TV or you're getting a low quality signal, there are steps you can take to identify your problem. Poor digital reception is easily identifiable. If your screen is pixelating or freezing and your sound is popping or distorted, you probably have an issue with your reception. Please note, satellite services can be affected by extreme weather conditions like very heavy rain. Larger dishes can improve performance during these events, but may be excessive for normal operation. Apart from the fact you have little choice, the transition to digital TV offers a number of benefits. The first of these is that you'll have a much wider selection of channels than the four or five available now. You'll also be able to enjoy digital radio, without the need for a separate DAB receiver, and will also be able to take advantage of Digital Teletext.
l a t i g i D i g D italer Problems v o h c t i Sw
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Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)
Many nations are making big strides toward the implementation of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and for good reason. Digital signals provide improved reception quality, ability to broadcast in high definition, expanded channel lineups and enhanced multimedia applications such as video-on-demand and entertainment services. Customers selecting Intelsat for a DTT transition solution benefit from our experience and cooperation with infrastructure companies to reduce time to market. Switching from analog to DTT signals also allows for the more efficient use of spectrum, as frequencies formerly used by analog broadcasts can be repurposed for wireless networks that can contribute to national economic growth. Satellite is a critical part of the content delivery chain for DTT, just as it always has been for analog and digital distribution. Intelsat already carries many national channels on each continent and can leverage premium private content on its fleet to create expanded DTT channel lineups for those populations Digital terrestrial television is an advanced technology of analog television and evolution of broadcast television. Digital television market is designed to offer quality television experience to customers.
In terrestrial implementation of digital television technology, instead of cable television and satellite connection, conventional antenna is used to provide better quality experience. Western Europe, France, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Sweden have successfully completed analog switch-off (ASO) and have become fully digitalized. There was a large potential market for DTT receivers Inuk, Japan, Italy, Portugal, South Korea and Canada, which were on the edge of completing analog switch-off by 2012. Countries like India, U.S, China, Romania, Mexico and Russia with huge population are expected to shift to digitalization by 2015. On the basis of platform for DTT receivers, the market is divided into: Pay TV platform, FTA Platform and Hybrid Platform. Upfront growth is expected for DTT receivers in next five years. This market is driven by wide spread popularity of digitalization in developed and developing countries. Affordability of terrestrial TV is a major factor for growth as customers have to pay only a single upfront amount for the receivers without any other subscription cost. Growth in emerging countries like India, China and Brazil will drive the market for DTT receivers in future. Growth in U.S and Europe DTT receivers market looks saturated.
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Inside view Digital terrestrial television in Portugal (Portuguese: Televisão Digital Terrestre, or TDT) started on 29 April 2009 with 4 free-to-air (FTA) channels, including a HighDefinition test channel. In the Azores and Madeira Islands, the respective regional channel (RTP Acores or RTP Madeira) is also available. In June 2010 TDT coverage reached 83% of the population and was expected to reach 100%. The analog switch-off took place in 2012. The four existing analog FTA channels are currently simulcasting in DVB-T, MPEG4 (digital), and PAL (analog). The TDT process was broken into two different licenses: one for the management of the FTA network and frequencies, and one for the management and distribution of pay TV channels and content. Both licenses were won by Portugal Telecom (PT). PT acquired also the transmitter network of Televisão Independente (TVI), thus becoming the sole broadcaster of analog television signals. ANACOM's objective was to have 5 TDT FTA channels (including a new 5th FTA channel) and a paid TV offer of around 40 channels. The plan for a paid TV offer was abandoned when PT announced that they were returning the paid TV license to ANACOM, which returned the €2.5 million paid by PT for the license. The creation of the 5th TV channel has been criticized by the main private broadcasters, TVI and Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC). They argued that the television advertising market is already saturated and a new broadcaster would be detrimental to the existing channels. Broadcast television systems are encoding or formatting standards for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. There are three main analog television systems in current use around the world: NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. These systems have several components, including a set of technical parameters for the broadcasting signal, an encoder system for encoding color, and possibly a system
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Digital Terrestrial Television In Portugal
for encoding multichannel television sound (MTS). In digital television (DTV), all of these elements are combined in a single digital transmission system. All but one analog television system began as black-and-white systems. Each country, faced with local political, technical, and economic issues, adopted a color television system which was grafted onto an existing monochrome system, using gaps in the video spectrum (explained below) to allow color transmission information to fit in the existing channels allotted. The grafting of the color transmission standards onto existing monochrome systems permitted existing monochrome television receivers predating the changeover to color television to continue to be operated as monochrome television.
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India has a population of more than a billion people, multiple languages and a developing economy. At the start of the last decade, DishTV had the DTH market pretty much to itself; however, with a number of new entrants in recent years, such as Tata Sky, Bharti Airtel with Airtel TV, and Reliance Communications with BiGTV among others, the marketplace is now getting crowded. Tata Sky launched services in 2006 and has already amassed over 10.5 million connections. The company has quickly become a major force in the Indian pay-TV market, but now one problem stalks the operator, and it is one that Yigit Riza, CTO, Tata Sky, believes impacts every single operator in India: a lack of available satellite capacity. “All of the DTH operators could do with double the capacity we have right now. DirecTV is apparently uplinking 3,000 channels today in a fairly homogenous market. Can you imagine the capacity that India will need going forward with its linguistic and cultural diversity? We use 12 transponders right now. We could double the number and that would still not meet our needs,” he says.
DishTV, which has more than 13 million subscribers, is also one of Asia's major acquirers of satellite capacity. The company uses 14 transponders in a mix of 36 MHz and 54 MHz, and a total bandwidth of around 616 MHz of capacity. Rajiv Khattar, president of projects at DishTV, says access to capacity has become a major issue. “The recent study on satellite capacity was emphasizing an Open Sky policy as ISRO has not been able to keep pace on the availability of the transponders to DTH players. DishTV is of the opinion that in case this is not possible, then DTH operators be assured of faster allocation of the transponder space in a time-bound manner in case they are able to work out bandwidth availability with a satellite provider whose satellite has been coordinated with ISRO. It is to be appreciated that bandwidth at the right slot has a value for one operator, but may not for another operator on that slot,” he says. Shashi Arora, CEO, DTH/Media, Bharti Airtel, admits while the operator currently has enough capacity, gaining access to more capacity has become a “key focus” for the company.
Inside view Since the launch of high definition in Europe in 2005, Eutelsat has been the industry innovator. The number of HD channels broadcast via our satellites has increased from 10 in 2006, to 400 in 2013. According to Screen Digest, more than 103 million homes in Europe are equipped with HD-Ready displays, making HD available in over 60% of households. Euroconsult forecasts that the share of HD channels in the worldwide satellite broadcasting market will increase from 5% in 2010 to 20% in 2020.
This trend is accelerating in leading satellite television markets in Europe, including in Italy and Poland where the number of HD channels rose during the year by 70% and 30% respectively, reflecting the premium offers of anchor pay-TV platforms. Eutelsat provides end-to-end broadcasting solutions, including encoding, encrypting, multiplexing and uplinking, via our teleports in France and Italy or our worldwide network of partner teleports. Reaching 204 million homes across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Eutelsat provides satellite capacity for leading TV broadcasters. 4600 TV channels, 400 HDTV channels and 1100 radio stations are broadcast via our extensive capacity on 31 satellites. Eutelsat provides customers with capacity and services for broadcasting to homes equipped for DTH reception or connected to cable and IP networks. Eutelsat's 'smart LNB' for Direct-to-Home antenna opens the door for broadcasters to operate linear television and connected TV
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EUTELSAT AND HD TRANSMISSION services directly by satellite. The 'smart LNB' is a new-generation electronic feed connected to an antenna with an embedded transmitter for interactive applications such as HbbTV, pay-perview, social networking, personal subscription management and live show participation (voting, comments ‌). It will transform mass market Directto-Home satellite services by enabling broadcasters and platform operators to bolt interactive valueadded services onto broadcast platforms, circumventing viewer dependency on terrestrial fixed and mobile networks. Ultra HD provides an unprecedented
viewing experience, with cinema-like picture quality combined with an expected increase of screen sizes at home. The takeoff of Ultra HD will be facilitated by the implementation of a new compression standard, HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). Satellites are a natural platform for broadcasting Ultra HD content thanks to their bandwidth availability and coverage. Ultra HD requires significant transmission capacity, that some terrestrial systems will not be able to provide everywhere immediately.Satellite capacity is fully transparent and requires no modification to accommodate Ultra HD transmissions. Several Quad HDTV / 4k TV channels can be transported per transponder.
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Inside view
r i A o Free t ) A T F ( e t i l l e t Sa m e t s y S A Free to Air Satellite receiver (abbreviated FTA receivers) refers to satellite receivers that are designed to receive unencrypted FTA satellite transmissions. Using these satellite receivers, one can legally receive TV signals without subscription. The signal is typically encoded in an MPEG-2 video and may be restricted geographically. In some places around the world, people can receive encrypted Free to Air satellite channels through the UHF and VHF band. The channels transmitted through Free to Air satellite are received by utilizing a common MPEG-2 video compatible
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satellite receiver. Many people use FTA to receive thousands of satellite TV channels free of charge. The equipment needed for you to enjoy the freebies are an FTA receiver (and here one has a choice between Pansat, Coolsat, Conaxsat, and many other great brand names) and a satellite dish within the specifics required by the satellite one wishes to point at. However, many satellites only require a standard DTV compliant dish that can be easily found in any satellite TV or electronic store. Both C-band and KBand dishes work just fine. If you wish to receive channels from more than one satellite, you will also need to have an antenna motor and the LNBF. In order to complete the installation of the system, you will need to have a coaxial cable running from the dish and making its way to the FTA receiver which should be connected to the television. This is usually the most difficult part. Though pointing the dish is not very difficult, many people would prefer to hire an experienced person to fix it on the roof of the house. It is important to make sure that the best FTA support services are obtained. The user can then go to the options of the FTA receiver and select the satellite to point to. Regular firmware updates will ensure that the device works efficiently. The FTA keys will need to be entered manually, and so it's important to be familiar with this process. Settings may vary among different satellite receivers. Free to air satellite systems can be defined as a satellite system primarily designed to receive "in the clear" or unscrambled satellite broadcasts. At the present time, there are literally hundreds of channels of news, sports, networks, special interest programming and ethnic channels and foreign language channels that are available without a subscription. The selection is also constantly changing, with new channels coming online and some old ones going offline or changing their broadcast schemes.
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In a world where Europe, the United States and Japan are all facing poor to mixed economic prospects, the Asia/Pacific region served by Broadcast Asia remains a good growth market for many manufacturers. “Asia/Pacific is an extremely strong region for us and we are extending our presence in the region with the recruitment of new personnel,” said Philippe Fort, CEO of French media asset management company Netia. “Broadcast Asia offers us an ideal opportunity to introduce our new sales representative, Singapore-based Winston Seow, to our network of distributors and
Growth Market For Satellite TV clients.” Another European company seeing growth in the region is Germany's Riedel, known for comms kit and fiber-based real-time video, audio and data networks. “Broadcast Asia comes at an exciting time for Riedel, said Joe Tan, general manager of Southeast Asia for Riedel. “We've not only completed an expansion of our Singapore office, but also have extended both our area sales team and our rental stock.” This year there is one industry trend that is well underway and very much real, overthe-top, or OTT, TV—a reference to second- and third-screen distribution. A few others that may not be on many broadcaster's near-term radar screens
nonetheless deserve respect, such as 4K technologies, the cloud, DVB-T2, and perhaps integrating social media in broadcast. If the show floor at NAB was a precursor to what will be on tap in Singapore, the broadcast industry can put off 3D and all its complexity and ROI uncertainty for a few more years at least. OTT is by its nature is crossover and both the BroadcastAsia and CommunicAsia show floors and conference rooms will feature the topic, in far too many presentations and panels to discuss in full here. One thing that stands out after a quick look through the conference program: OTT seems to have a few viable business models. Fedor Ezhov, chief operating officer of SPB TV, is making a presentation on day one that will touch on the subject. Ezhov says many business analysts see a great value in the Asia Pacific market, with its extensive fixed broadband and mobile subscriber base. “We see a strong demand for mobile TV services in India, where video broadband networks are not so well established yet, and online TV services were primarily delivered over mobile 3G and edge connections,” Ezhov said. “Gaining popularity, they made way for OTT TV services available over any internet network, including Wi-Fi.”
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Inside view Kyrgyzstan plans to transition to digital television in June 2015, but the country has many preparations to do before that plan is realised. "Switching to digital broadcasting is a difficult process that requires rational approaches and tactically accurate solutions," Deputy Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev said. The changeover to digital broadcasting will cost KGS 550m (US $11.3 m), Culture, Information and Tourism Deputy Minister Ainura Temirbekova said, noting that several channels have received funds to update equipment for the transition. "Kyrgyz Public Television and Radio
Broadcasting Corporation [KPTRB] has been allocated KGS 100m (US $2m) because it needs to switch three channels over. ElTR has been given KGS 90m (US $1.8m), six regional channels have been provided KGS 20m (US $405,000) each, and KGS 10m (US $202,000) have been earmarked for Channel 5 and Pyramid," Temirbekova said. But with just 18 months before the deadline, state and private television companies are saying they do not have enough money to make the switch. "The switch to digital has barely yet to begin," said Ernis Mamyrkanova, an independent expert and member at Digital Kyrgyzstan, an alliance of NGOs. "Only one-fifth of the money needed has been earmarked for state television companies to make the switch." "New equipment, such as transmitters and antennas, needs to be procured. Television viewers have to buy digital receivers, socalled set-top boxes, to get the signal," he said in explaining the costs. Sarpashev, however, is optimistic about resolving the funding issue. "It's difficult to
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Kyrgyzstan
l a t i g Di Television
find money in the budget, but we will take care of the financing and equipment issues." Difficulties for private companies Channels not funded by the state face even more problems, though. "Private companies will have to band together and buy their own multiplex or lease one from the state," Mamyrkanov said. "However it works out, it will be really expensive." Some people, like Mamat Kadyraliev, a journalist for a private television company, argue that the government's move is a way to shut down undesirable, private television companies or to take control of them However, Mamyrkanov disagreed. "The plan to switch to digital broadcasting was passed in 2011, and this wasn't some government eccentricity, but rather the country's international obligations," he said. "Furthermore, private television companies using their own multiplex will be less dependent on equipment infrastructure from the state.�
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Inside view Satellite TV microwave signals are incredibly weak. That we can pick them up at all is remarkable, and that most dishes do a sterling job for just a few pounds is amazing. If you want to always get the best from your system, it's important to have the correct antenna – the right type and the right size. There are two operations to receiving a satellite TV signal – collecting as much of the signal as possible, focusing it at one point and amplifying and processing it. The most prominent feature of any satellite TV antenna is the means to collect the signals. It's usually a dish reflector and this must be made to the precise parabolic profile and constructed so it remains that way through transport, installation and years of service. A dented, bent or distorted dish will not focus the microwaves correctly, 'wasting' some, so the received signal will be weaker and maybe insufficient for a picture. The reflector is usually made of metal (steel is cheapest but dishes are also made from aluminium because that won't corrode) which can be solid or perforated to make the dish less visible and less prone to wind loading – the holes are tiny and make (almost) no difference to its reflective ability with microwaves. Other materials are used too. Plastic, resin and glass fibre dishes are easy to make, light, will not corrode and will spring back
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when flexed. These materials are largely transparent to microwaves so a reflecting metal foil or mesh layer is embedded inside. Signal processing is performed by the low noise block-downconverter (LNB) at the antenna's focus. This selects the signal polarity and frequency band (as we've seen previously), amplifies the tiny electrical signal and reduces the frequency so it can be sent down the cable to the receiver indoors. The antenna's LNB must introduce almost no electrical noise into the signal. All electrical equipment adds noise into the signals passing through but because the satellite signals are so small, the levels of noise introduced by the LNB must be truly minute if the TV signal itself is not to be swamped by the unwanted noise. The noise that an LNB introduces is expressed by the 'noise figure' of the LNB in decibels (dB). Dishes vary in both size and shape.
s a n n e t n A e t i l l e t a S
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People just love satellite TV, and the global direct to home (DTH) audience keeps growing in their millions. There's no mystery. With one phone call, you can
Satellite TV – everyone's favourite dish
arrange installation of a consumerfriendly dish, a state-of-the-art set-top, and in a heartbeat, thousands of channels are at your fingertips. Of the massive 276m people worldwide enjoying TV via SES' fleet (end-2012 figures) the lion's share are choosing DTH. Over 85m households in Europe alone are tuned into TV beamed directly from SES satellites, compared to 78m watching terrestrially, 68m cable homes and 17m via IPTV. The attraction of DTH to broadcasters is also a no-brainer – it delivers an instant audience, spanning vast population centres, while also reaching viewers in remote locations where cabling is impossible. “There's still plenty of demand and we have seen a rapid growth over the last few years,” says SES' Martin Ornass-Kubacki. “The beauty of satellite is that it covers the territory from day one and that's a hot topic.” As economies around the world grow, and their people crave more entertainment, new DTH offerings are springing up everywhere In Turkey, for example, a fast-growing economy, demand for new TV services is exploding. So Anadolu Networks chose ASTRA 1G to launch its DTH platform to broadcast local channels nationwide. The flexibility of DTH means broadcasters can swiftly launch packages to engage
niche audiences, and deliver products at prices everyone can afford. In Indonesia, MNC Sky Vision will use SES 7 to launch a Chinese-language DTH package for Indovision. Now Indovision can reach beyond its existing 2m subscribers to a whole new audience by launching services in their own language. For viewers in Ukraine, Modern Times Group has launched UA.TV, a monthly prepaid service. “The addition of a new, prepaid massmarket entry level pay-TV brand [will make] our services available to even more households in Ukraine, as the service is easily accessible to those who choose not to have one of our more comprehensive subscription services,” explains Jørgen Madsen, MTG CEO. More than any other medium, DTH can efficiently deliver new services, including countless digital TV and radio channels, interactive apps and of course crystal-clear high definition TV. SES pioneered HD and remains at the forefront. 80% of all European homes watching HD are tuned into ASTRA satellites.
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Inside view
21 YEARS OF GENEROUS PUBLICATIONS
Satellite TV Expands in the Mideast Pan Arab free to air satellite television continues to rapidly expand in the Middle East, facilitating better information and a freer environment. Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) is in its initial stage of penetration in the Arab world and is still developing, according to a study conducted by Arab Advisors Group, reports Trade Arabia. As broadband adoption increases in the region, several operators in the Arab world have plans to implement IPTV (also called TV over IP) in the near future, the study explained. Seven service providers in six countries Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar and UAE - offer commercial IPTV services in the Mena region, the report stated. Additionally, there are ongoing or planned projects by the service providers and governments in countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, to offer local IPTV services in the future, Faten Bader, an Arab Advisors senior research analyst, said in the report. The experts pointed out that a massive supply of free to air (FTA) channels and the widespread piracy of DVDs and Pay TV were the major obstacles facing IPTV providers. This makes the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalized, Bader pointed out. In related news, the Arab world's FTA Sat
TV channels have grown by 28.1% between August 2007 and March 2009, reports AlBawaba. By March of this year, the total number of FTA satellite channels reached 474 broadcasting on Arabsat, Nilesat and Noorsat. "Of the 474 channels, 46 were in test transmission mode. 82.7% of the 428 fully launched and operational FTA satellite channels broadcast exclusively in Arabic. The remaining languages [broadcast] lag far behind the Arabic language. English follows with a 7.2% share," Danya Nusseir, an Arab Advisors senior research analyst, commented. “In line with the liberalization of the audio visual sectors in the region, the number of private satellite channels exceeds the number of government owned channels: 72.4% are privately owned while 26.6% are government owned," Mr. Issa Goussous, another Arab Advisors Senior research analyst, argued. Produced by Arabs for Arab audiences, satellite programming content often acknowledges and defers to Arab social norms, with self-regulation replacing stateimposed censorship. Nonetheless, PBS remarks that while not hindered by direct state control, Arab satellite TV is vulnerable to supra-governmental checks emanating from the region. The Charter passed by the information ministers of the Arab League member countries illustrates this point.
T h e H i g h l y C i r c u l a t e d S a t e l l i t e M a g a z i n e
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FEBRUARY 2014
Inside view
21 YEARS OF GENEROUS PUBLICATIONS
Installing A Satellite System
T h e H i g h l y C i r c u l a t e d S a t e l l i t e M a g a z i n e
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FEBRUARY 2014
Inside view
21 YEARS OF GENEROUS PUBLICATIONS
Television Encryption
Pay television exists to make revenue from subscribers, and sometimes those subscribers do not pay. The prevention of piracy on cable and satellite networks has been one of the main factors in the development of Pay TV encryption systems. The early cable-based Pay TV networks used no security. This led to problems with people connecting to the network without paying. Consequently, some methods were developed to frustrate these self-connectors. The early Pay TV systems for cable television were based on a number of simple measures. The most common of these was a channel-based filter that would effectively stop the channel being received by those who had not subscribed. These filters would be added or removed according to the subscription. As the number of television channels on these cable networks grew, the filter-based approach became increasingly impractical. Other techniques such as adding an interfering signal to the video or audio began to be used as the simple filter solutions were easily bypassed. As the technology evolved, addressable set-top boxes became common, and more complex scrambling techniques such as digital encryption of the audio or video cut and rotate (where a line of video is cut at a
particular point and the two parts are then reordered around this point) were applied to signals. Encryption was used to protect satellitedistributed feeds for cable television networks. Some of the systems used for cable feed distribution were expensive. As the DTH market grew, less secure systems began to be used. Many of these systems (such as OAK Orion) were variants of cable television scrambling systems that affected the synchronisation part of the video, inverted the video signal, or added an interfering frequency to the video. All of these analogue scrambling techniques were easily defeated. In France, Canal+ launched a scrambled service in 1984. It was also claimed that it was an unbreakable system. Unfortunately for that company, an electronics magazine, "Radio Plans", published a design for a pirate decoder within a month of the channel launching. In the USA, HBO was one of the first services to encrypt its signal using the VideoCipher II system. In Europe, FilmNet scrambled its satellite service in September 1986, thus creating one of the biggest markets for pirate satellite TV decoders in the world, because the system that FilmNet used was easily hacked.
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