Ronan Callanan, B.Sc
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Access to Public Broadcasting Services across National Digital Delivery Systems By Ronan Callanan, B.Sc. Submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts Presented to Dublin City University Research Supervisor Professor Farrel Corcoran, School of Communications, Dublin City University September 2001 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study to the award of M A in Communications, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work Signed H (j l ID No O Date __________ ( O f f f O (________ Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their help throughout this project • Farrel Corcoran, my research supervisor • My friends and family, m particular Mam, Elizabeth, Kevin, and Paul for their huge support • RTE and Esat Digifone for their scholarship funding • The individuals who agreed to an interview INTRODUCTION Introduction 1 Methodological Approach 2 Television 3 Convergence 5 CHAPTER ONE Public Broadcasting Introduction 11 Public Sphere 12 Broadcasting and the Public Sphere 15 Public Sphere and Television Content 20 Separation of Content and Infrastructure Regulation 24 Conclusion 30 Diagrams Figure 1 Development of Analogue Terrestrial Television 32 Figure 2 Development of Digital Media Services through the Digital Terrestrial Platform 33 CHAPTER TWO Technological Barriers to Digital Broadcasting Introduction 34 Being Digital 35 Access to Transmission Signals 39 Access to Content through the Set-Top Box 47 Conclusion 55 Diagrams Figure 3 Development of Digital Broadcasting across all Platforms The Necessary Variables 58 Figure 4 Possible Digital Media Services to the Household 59 Figure 5 Current DVB-T Platform Operators in European Union 60 Figure 6 Companson between Ireland and Launched DVB-T Platforms m European Countries 61 Figure 7 Internet Access Speeds to the Home 62 Figure 8 Possible Interactive Broadcasting Options 63 Figure 9 Development of lDTV sets across Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting 65 CHAPTER THREE European Policy on Convergence Introduction 66 Broadcasting 67 Telecommunications 75 Digital Media and Telecommunications 82 Conclusion 88 Diagrams Figure 10 Global Alliances and Mergers 92 CHAPTER FOUR National Policy on Terrestrial Broadcasting Introduction 94 RTE 95 Proposed Broadcasting Bill (1999) 102 Broadcasting Bill Impact on ‘must carry’ of Digital Services 111 Conclusion 116 Diagrams Figure 11 Broadcast Delivery Systems in Ireland 120 Figure 12 Telephone Subscriber Networks 123 Figure 13 Chorus Communications 125 Figure 14 Multiplex Breakdown for Irish Digital Terrestrial Platform 126 Figure 15 NTL 127 Figure 16 Mam Players in Digital Broadcasting in Ireland 128 CHAPTER FIVE ODTR Regulation Introduction 129 ODTR and Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting 130 Multiplex Access to the Fixed Line Network 136 Multiplex Access to the Cable Distribution System 143 Conclusion 146 Diagrams Figure 17 Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Developments in EU Countries 150 Figure 18 Eircom 153 Figure 19 Esat Telecom 154 CONCLUSION 155 APPENDIX Glossary 169 Main Convergence Developments m Ireland 171 List of Individuals Interviewed 176 List of Individuals Unavailable for an Interview 177 Sample Lists of Questions from Interviews 178 Bibliography 187 Introduction Introduction Traditionally broadcasting and telecommunications have been regarded as completely separate sectors Broadcasting as a transmission system was inseparable from the broadcast content Alternatively, telecommunication networks were the sole providers of voice and basic data telephony services But as technology developed and both markets began to offer similar services, the regulatory dividing lines between Internet, broadcasting and telecommunications services have begun to blur Broadcasting as a transmission system is becoming detached from the broadcast content Even though these markets are technically converging the issue of access to content and the licensing of content providers over these new delivery platforms to carry their services remain unresolved The liberalisation of both markets may make a significant difference to the production of content and the access of such programming content to pay-television and Free-to-Air viewers The transmission of similar services over previously distinct delivery systems has been categonsed as convergence This term is generally considered as a suitable representation of the hazy combination of different broadcast and point-to-point services that were once considered the domain of the telecommunications incumbent Equally, the broadcast network was considered an indispensable part of the public broadcasting organisation in its provision of a single content service such as television programming Today, digital technology and the liberalisation of the cable and telecommunications networks have allowed multiple content service providers to offer many different services over several networks Such technological convergence is delivering different services within each network In the past, the analogue broadcast relationship involved the content provider, network operator and customer Now, there are additional market players between the customer and the network operator called service providers who control different parts of the downstream and upstream dynamics This paper hopes to highlight the potential impact of telecommunication liberalisation on broadcasting as network operators begin to 1 Introduction provide video and broadcast services while broadcast network operators transmit unicast and point-to-point services alongside their traditional broadcast service Methodological Approach In the research achieved dunng the last two years, my research methodology was based on both primary and secondary activities There was analysis of the technological developments of both broadcasting and telecommunications mdustnes such as the multiple delivery methods for the provision of media and telecommunication services to each household By analysing national policy papers, media sources, trade magazines, and the experiences and opinions of the mam strategy makers within communications companies, it was possible to highlight key findings on the future impact of the broadband1 telecommunication networks on digital television services provided by the national broadcasting sector Due to the nascency of this topic and the lack of detailed research on the digital terrestrial platform, and indeed the place of public broadcasting within this arena, interviews have provided access to important responses m relation to the immediate regulatory issues and practical obstacles facing these new digital platforms and hardware services Secondary research encompassed e-mail questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with a standard open-ended questions and answers format These interviews provide more clarity on the mam issues surrounding the development of the digital terrestrial platform and the role of the European Commission and national regulatory authorities in the converging area of broadcasting, telecommunications and computing The thesis includes a representative sample of interviews with personnel working in the academic, broadcasting regulatory, consulting, telecommunications, government and new 11 intend to use the European definition of broadband as ‘applied to high speed telecommunications systems, e g those capable of simultaneously supporting multiple information formats such as voice, high speed data service and video services on demand’ via a single digital bitstream Broadband services can be placed m narrowband networks as long as the bandwidth capacity, usmg data compression, is limited to 2Mbps A broadband network over a cable platform is able to transmit more than 10 Mbps for similar 2 Introduction media fields A list of individuals who agreed to be interviewed, as well as those who \ declined a meeting, has been listed in the Appendix Observational experiences during the interviews were noted and included in the transcribing of quotes in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding to the interviewees response Television Analogue terrestrial television is a one-to-many, linear broadcasting network The traditional broadcaster network operator who controlled access to the viewer’s television screen was also the mam programme maker From the 1960’s, such Free-to-Air services were the sole distribution medium m the country for the transmission of national and indigenous programming These services were universally available to the general public within the public broadcasting remit of the national broadcasting organisation For Williams (1974) the transmission technology logically came before television content Programming was seen as ‘by-products of technology’ whereby all that was required of the viewer was the purchase of a television set to view the content (Williams, 1974 29) Through a gradual process of service innovation and public demand, television transmission and reception, and content programming became inter-related As a technology based medium, all terrestrial broadcasting services were dependent on their proprietary transmission technology to translate these analogue signals into a programme to be viewed by a standard television receiver device The purchase of a television set and antenna was an essential prerequisite to signal reception This bond remained unchanged up to the arrival of new retransmission networks capable of providing