ISSN 1067-490X IEEE Volume 20, Number 2, Summer 2012 The technologies to deliver information and entertainment to audiences worldwide, at home and on the go. Inside President’s Column. 2 From the Editor . 3 BroadcastAsia2012 Draws Record Crowd . 4 New BTS AdCom Members-at-Large Selected. 5 IBC Show Is Not To Be Missed . 7 Symposium Program . 8 Remembering Telstar . 11 The Westin Alexandria Hotel will once again serve as the backdrop for the October IEEE Broadcast Symposium. Events Calendar . 13 Maximizing Payload Efficiency of Digital Television Broadcasting . 14 BTS Readies for Fall Chronicling HDTV’s History . 20 Broadcast Symposium Adcom Group Selects Symposium Papers . 21 By James E. O’Neal drawer event. More than two dozen Chapter Reports . 22 technical presentations are scheduled, ALEXANDRIA, VA along with panel discussions, tutorial In Memoriam. 24 The premier event for the Broad- sessions, and luncheon events. There cast Technology Society event is the are also opportunities for relaxing, so- Letters to the Editor . 25 annual Fall IEEE Broadcast Sympo- cializing and networking at the end of sium, and this year’s show promises the day, with receptions scheduled on Letters to the Editor to be no exception. It brings together Wednesday and Thursday evening. some of the top broadcast engineer- “I am excited about this year’s Sym- ing people in the world for three days posium, which thanks to the hard work (Oct. 17–19) and provides exposure of our Virtual Events chair, Tom Gurley, to the most cutting-edge develop- and my co-chair Paul Shulins, will once ments in this sector. again include an on-line “virtual” compo- The Symposium’s organizers, co- nent, allowing Broadcast Technology So- chairs David Layer and Paul Schulins, ciety members from around the world have once again been working diligently to benefit from this event,” said Layer. for months to produce another top- continued on page 6 2 President’s Column William Meintel, BTS President That said, perhaps a different model would produce more long term revenue. For example, a profit-sharing arrange- As I’ve discussed in previous columns, ment where the government/public would receive a percent- the demand—or perceived demand—for age of the profit derived from the use of the spectrum. This spectrum is threatening the future of over- profit sharing could take many different forms and not neces- the-air television broadcasting (OTA-TV). sarily be just a direct cash payment to the government trea- We have been told that OTA-TV is no sury. I expect some smart people could devise any number of longer needed and that the TV spectrum acceptable concepts. should be reallocated for new and innova- Such a scheme would lower the risk by removing the need tive technologies. I’ve previously given my for an initial outlay to purchase the spectrum, thereby allow- opinion on that subject and won’t repeat ing additional resources to be made available for deploying it here. However, this talk of spectrum requirements has got- the service. Although, the initial profit to the public will be ten me to thinking about the subject of spectrum manage- smaller, there is a potential for a steady stream of “income” ment and the relationship between spectrum management that could ultimately far outstrip the one-time income from and the introduction of new technologies. an auction. It seems that in recent years, spectrum management, at Now to the third question—are auctions the best path to least in the United States, has come down to spectrum auc- new innovative services? Given that large sums of money are tions. It’s a simple concept—locate some unused or under- required to win a spectrum auction, a reasonable assump- used spectrum and auction it off to the highest bidder. This tion is that the winning bidder will be a large corporation. process may require relocating some incumbents to a differ- Since large corporations like to please their stockholders ent band and/or reducing their bandwidth requirements by with large profits, they therefore are typically reluctant to using new technologies. This relocation typically is somehow embrace unproven technology even if it has the potential to paid for from the auction proceeds or possibly by the new reap a very large reward. The risk is just too great. There- users of the spectrum. fore, the likely answer to the question is no, auctions are Spectrum auctions are politically popular as they are pro- probably not the best path to new innovative services. moted as being a source of tremendous revenue for the gov- The last, and I believe, most important question is—Are ernment and will also allow the introduction of much needed auctions really spectrum management or just a convenient new and innovative services to the public. In view of this, I way to avoid it? have some questions that come to mind: In my opinion the answer is clear—auctions are a way to avoid the hard work of real spectrum management. Instead • Do spectrum auctions actually yield the advertised rev- of auctioning off the spectrum to the highest bidder or at- enue or more importantly the actual long term value of tempting to rig it to satisfy some specific social need, it’s time the spectrum? to do real spectrum management. • Would a different revenue model actually yield more The government should be soliciting input on the important revenue over the long term? communications needs of the country, and in conjunction with • Are auctions the best path to new innovative services? all interested parties, should develop a long range plan of how • Are auctions really spectrum management, or just a con- to provide the needed services. This planning should consider venient way to avoid it? new technology that will likely to be available when the plan is implemented. It should also challenge developers to push As I address the first two points, let me be the first to the limits to solve technical problems by setting a very high say that spectrum auction design and results are not my bar when making assumptions concerning future spectrum ef- area of expertise. However, from what I’ve read, it would ficiency with the reward to the developers being product sales. seem that for various reasons previous auctions have fallen The technical planning must devise a methodology to well short of expectations and future auctions may well integrate all of the various needs, avoid technical con- meet the same fate. In today’s economy, logic would imply flict while using the least amount of spectrum. This plan- that the current value of spectrum would be less than in ning also needs to look not only at wireless spectrum, better times. but must integrate it with the use of the wired services. The value to a bidder is based on their expected return on Unlike wireless, where only a specific amount of spec- the investment, which in turn is based on the expectations of trum will ever be available, the capacity of the wired in- demand for the anticipated service being offered, and what frastructure is only limited by the amount of “wire” that customers are willing or able to pay for that service. In a is deployed. Serious consideration needs to be given as to down economy the customers will be fewer and their ability what services need to be wireless and what can be better to pay will be less. continued on page 7 Summer 2012 IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter 3 From the Editor Looking Back, Looking Forward James E. O’Neal, BTS Newsletter Editor The memories from that event are still so strong it’s very difficult to accept the fact that it took place half a century Your editor attended a July ceremony at ago. However, one doesn’t have to look far to realize that we the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum are now living in a rather different world. commemorating the 50th anniversary of Communication via satellite is universal now—there are the successful launch and activation of the very few businesses, even tiny mom-and-pop gas stations in Telstar One satellite. It was a joint venture the smallest towns, that aren’t linked somewhere via small between the Smithsonian and the French aperture satellite terminals. Pass by apartment and town- Embassy, as France was one of the three in- house complexes and try to find one without pizza pan-sized ternational players in this first effort to relay dishes on balconies and roof edges. For that matter, are there live video from one continent to another. any new cars on the road these days that don’t have telltale Part of the ceremony involved playback of a portion of the bumps on the roofline for concealing the very tiny antennas content the French sent from their Pleumeur-Bodou earth used for satellite-delivered radio and GPS devices? station. As it was after midnight Paris time July 12, 1962 when For those who are still early in their careers—and even the demo took place, what was seen here was, in fact, not for persons such as myself who’ve been in broadcasting for really live, but a recorded presentation. Regardless, it was a decades—it’s hard to imagine or think back to a time when monumental occasion for communications and broadcasting we weren’t dependent on a bank of transponders some- people, as well as the world at large, with the planet shrinking where up in the sky for receiving very high quality video and perceptibly that evening/morning. audio from some distant point.