Regulatory Framework Distribution of High Definition Television Channels in the Western Balkan Countries

technics technologies education management Regulatory framework distribution of high definition television channels in the western Balkan countries Zaklina Spalevic1, Zoran Trajcevski2, Zeljko Bjelajac3, Milan Pocuca3, Dusko Dimitrijevic4 1 Faculty of Entrepreneurial Business,, University Union Nikola Tesla, Belgrade, Serbia, 2 Broadcasting Council of The Republic Macedonia, Skoplje, Republic of Macedonia, 3 Faculty of Law for Economy end Justice, University Business Academy, Novi Sad, Serbia, 4 Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, Serbia. Abstract 1080 represent the “height” of the image, and the width is 1280, or 1920 pixels). The paper includes an analysis of the distri- Table 1. Primary DTV standards bution of HDTV channels in the countries of the former Yugoslavia: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Resolution Aspect ratio Frames per second Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mace- DTV donia. An overview of the number of channels is 1920 x 1080 16:9 24p, 30p, 60i made based on the different types of distribution: DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C and IPTV. Furthermore, HDTV 1280 x 720 16:9 24p, 30p, 60i the presence of the HDTV channels of national 704 x 480 16:9 24p, 30p, 60i, 60p and foreign production is presented, as well as the 704 x 480 4:3 24p, 30p, 60i, 60p SDTV presence of channels by genres. Comparison is 640 x 480 4:3 24p, 30p, 60i, 60p made between the presence of the HDTV channels and the SDTV channels in different types of The number of frames by second (FPS) is in- the distribution. dicated next to the code, for ex. 720p60, which Key words: Law Framework, Abuse, Digitali- shows the resolution 1280×720, a progressive zation, SDTV channels, HDTV channels, DVB-T, way of image scanning and 60 frames per second. DVB-S, DVB-C, IPTV. Transmission of television / video signals in its uncompressed form requires a very high bandwidth that is beyond the bandwidth supported by 1. Introduction the modern VDSL technology. HDTV (High Definition Television) is a tech- In particular, HD (High definition)and 3D vid- nology that offers video and audio quality signifi- eo signals require a high bandwidth. cantly higher than the traditional video and audio Transmission of uncompressed HD video sig- technology (analogue PAL, NTSC, SECAM, and nal at full resolution 1920x1080 in 4:2:2 format, digital SDTV) [1]. requires a bandwidth of about 3 Gb/s, and for 3D Considering the higher resolution, the image is image even more. Therefore, different algorithms clearer, less blurry and generally closer to the reality. are used for compression of video signals. HD offers smoother motion, more detailed and The level of compression depends on the algo- vivid colours, and a very high quality multi-channel rithm that is used for the compression (MPEG 2, sound that makes the viewing experience even better. MPEG 4,...) and may vary. HDTV offers two types of signal quality: 720 The required bandwidth, when MPEG2 standard and 1080 are the basic codes to which either let- is used for broadcasting of HD signal is about 20 ter “i” or letter “p” is added, which indicates the Mb/s, whereas for SD (standard digital television) method of image scanning (i = interlaced – scan- standard with a resolution of 720x576 lines - about ning of every other line, and then the other lines; 4 Mb/s. If the MPEG4 standard is used, then for the p = progressive – line by line scanning). 720 and same image quality it requires half the bandwidth. Volume 8 / Number 3 / 2013 1173 technics technologies education management The MPEG2 standard is mostly used in the Eu- possess output audio compressor/limiter. Table 2 ropean televisions, although recently the MPEG 4 shows the bit rates of compressed television sig- standard is more often used [1,2]. nals that are used in practice in broadcasting, ob- In order to broadcast as many signals to the end tained based on MPEG2 and MPEG4 standards. users by different TV studios, multiplexing of vid- Table 2. Compressed video/audio signal bit rates eo/audio signals is used. The sound is embedded in for certain standards the image, so it is transmitted along with the image. Video Compressed TV video For the HD signal, the so-called surround sound Compression video/audio resolution is also transmitted, which will give an illusion that Standards signal bit rates the viewer is in the midst of the events seen on tele- SDTV 2 – 4 Mb/s MPEG-2 vision. HDTV 15 – 20 Mb/s SDTV 1.5 – 2 Mb/s MPEG-4 2. Wide application of the optic technology HDTV 6 – 8 Mb/s and signal quality 3. Legal frame for digitization in the coun- FTTH is the most capable technology, which tries of former Yugoslavia and compari- is able to conduct the future services to the lo- son with the situation in Europe, USA cation of the user. Primarily this is based on the and Japan excellent features of the optical fibres such as the unlimited bandwidth that enables much more ser- The digital technology rapidly replaces the an- vices compared to copper pairs as a medium or alogue technology in many areas. All broadcasted any other medium. Today, there are no techno- signals receive a certain level of noise or inter- logical obstacles to build a FTTH network be- ferences from other signals. With the analogue cause there are various optical components such signals, such noise or interferences is part of the as connectors where mechanical joining of the received signal and cannot be separated from the optical fibres is made, which indicates that splic- audio or video signal. With the digital systems, the ing is not necessary; there are fibres that have a receiver only needs to decide whether the received high elasticity (r<10mm) without causing consid- signal is 0 or 1. If the noise is low (<0.5), the origi- erable deterioration; there are also very flexible nal signal is decoded without error. The benefits and compact cabinets which serve as optical-cable from the digital television are: outlets and many other components, which makes – Good program contents, the construction of this network much easier. The – Excellent technical quality (audio and video), services that the operators can offer through their – Simple navigation (program guide), FTTH network consist of communication and en- – Useful additional information, tertainment services that include transmission of – Saving of frequencies, which are a national voice, fast Internet access, broadband cable tele- limited resource. vision, broadband satellite television, interactive two-way broadcasting of video recordings, etc. The digitalization, as a global process of the Furthermore, the FTTH network that is based on broadcasting modernization, has started nearly wavelength multiplexing opens additional space two decades ago. Digital television was introduced for future new services, and intensive efforts are in the United States of America in 1998, while the made to provide the possibility for statistical mul- switch-off process of the analogue signal of the tiplexing of bursty traffic such as the IP (Internet largest TV transmitters finished in June 2009, al- Protocol) data transfer [1]. though certain low power transmitters continue to The quality of the signal with which the radio broadcast with analogue signal. Apart from the su- broadcaster works, should meet the following cri- perior image, which is received through the digital teria: to be in colour according to the G/PAL norm; signal, and the possibilities to watch in larger ei- the production of the audio-video signal should be ther joint or split screens, the remaining frequen- in a digital format and every TV station should cies in the United States of America, the digital 1174 Volume 8 / Number 3 / 2013 technics technologies education management dividend, worth $ 18,957,582,150, which price – Spain completed the switch-off of the was obtained at a public auction by the telecom- analogue signal transmission in April 2010, munications operators. Japan in July 2011 was the after five years of simulcast period. first country in Asia, which ended the era of ana- – Latvia completed the conversion of its logue broadcasting that lasted 58 years. As in the analogue to digital television in June 2012. previous case, the digital dividend has been used – Estonia completely switched off the for conversion into telecommunication services. analogue transmitters in July 2010. In Europe, the process of full digitalization is – San Marino started the use of the complete slower in comparison with the United States of digital signal in December 2010. America and Japan. The process is completed in – Luxembourg switched off its last analogue some of the European countries, in some it is a transmitters in December 2010. simulcast period and some have not even started – Monaco switched off the analogue their process of digitalization [3,4,5]. The follow- television in May 2011. ing European countries have fully completed the – Austria started the multicast period in television digitalization process: March 2007, which lasted until June 2011. – Netherlands transferred to a complete – Malta switched off all analogue transmitters digital signal in December 2006. in October 2011. – Finland switched off the analogue signal in – Cyprus completely transferred to MPEG-4 September 2007. Interesting for this country broadcasting in July 2011. is the fact that their cable network was – France switched off all analogue services completely digitalized as of February 2008. (terrestrial, cable and satellite) in November – Andorra completed the transfer in 2011. September 2007. – Portugal started the digital broadcasting – Sweden switched off the analogue signal in April 2009, and three years later in region by region. The process started in April 2012 switched off all analogue signal September 2005 and was completed in transmitters. October 2007. However, this only applies to – Czech Republic switched off the last digital terrestrial television.

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