“Expanded direct receipt” paid broadcasting “retransmission needed”… ‘UHD broadcasting’ clash again
Jung Yoon Hee | yuni@ | 2017-05-25 10:38:05
The broadcasting market is in full swing as the terrestrial Ultra-High Definition (UHD) broadcast is expected to begin on May 31. There is a serious nervous breakdown among paid TV operators such as IPTV and cable TV that claim to retransmit UHD contents as the terrestrial broadcasters who are trying to establish new content platform operators with UHD broadcasting and terrestrial UHD broadcasting environments are very poor.
Currently, only about 5% of households receive terrestrial broadcasts directly through antennas in Korea. Most people watch TV broadcasts via paid TV such as cable TV, IPTV, and satellite broadcasting. However, the situation can be changed as the terrestrial direct reception rate increases in the case of the terrestrial UHD broadcasting which should be regarded as the direct receiving method is successfully settled. In this case, there is a prospect that the competition of broadcasting market will be different from the current one, which will be advantageous for terrestrial broadcasting.
The Korea Cable Television Association held a press conference on the subject of "Terrestrial UHD broadcasting, who is responsible?" at the Seodaemun-gu association office in Seoul on May 24, and claimed necessity of the retransmission of terrestrial UHD.
Moon Jun-woo, general manager of Korea Digital Cable Research Institute, claimed, "We need a new UHD reception environment as there are issues such as the existing UHD TV and the improvement of the environment of the public service offices. We plan to resend terrestrial UHD broadcasting through cable and IPTV It can be a realistic alternative.”
The terrestrial UHD broadcasting will begin from May 31 in the metropolitan area. This year, the city will expand to the end of the year end city and nationwide in 2021. Termination of the existing HD broadcasting is scheduled for coming 2027.
The problem is the terrestrial UHD reception environment. Terrestrial UHD broadcasts conform to the American Standard (ATSC 3.0). And TVs using it have not been available until February or March, this year. The UHD TV, which has been sold for about 1 million units, is a European standard (DVB-T2) and requires a separate converter. In the industry, UHD TV sales volume of American standard is still small, and converters are sold around the beginning of broadcasting. It is expected that only a small number of viewing furniture will be sold even if UHD broadcasting starts.
The paid TV industry claims UHD should also be retransmitted for this reason. It is a logic that claims there are very few households who can watch terrestrial UHD broadcasting anyway. In the process, it is noteworthy that terrestrial broadcasting is demanding UHD contents CPS which is higher than CPS of existing HD contents. Terrestrial and paid TV broadcasts are in conflict for many years, including legal conflict, over a reasonable CPS level. Cable industry expert said, "A terrestrial wave is applying the 700MHz frequency for UHD broadcasting free of charge with free universal service, and claiming CPS here is completely deterred.”
Terrestrial broadcasters are in totally different position. Currently, terrestrial broadcasters have no plan to retransmit UHD broadcasts on pay-per-view broadcasts. An official of the terrestrial broadcaster stated, "It is the first thing that the public can receive terrestrial UHD for free. We have not set up a retransmission policy yet and will focus on strengthening the terrestrial broadcasting platform."
The terrestrial broadcaster is expected to increase its influence on the broadcasting market by increasing the direct reception rate of 5% through UHD broadcasting. If we think only of the technical part, we can expect the reception ratio to be risen more than 30%. In the case of the direct reception ratio increases, the number of paid TV subscribers decreases. However, it is unclear how much the direct reception rate will actually increase as most viewers are familiar with multi-channel and Video-On-Demand (VOD).
Another terrestrial representative said, "It is aimed at meeting the viewer`s expectation that providing interactive home portal service such as watching pooq VOD in terrestrial UHD is possible.”
The government is supporting the terrestrial broadcasting that UHD broadcasting is only receiving the terrestrial direct reception. Koh Nan-jun, director of terrestrial broadcasting policy at the Korea Communications Commission, said "It is a big problem to raise the direct reception rate. But it is a big problem that terrestrial broadcasting is not planning to retransmit paid platform. There is no choice but to direct receipt of paid platform.” Lee Nam-pyo, a lecturer at Chung-Ang University, pointed out, "Most countries compete with complimentary platforms based on terrestrial broadcasting and paid TV broadcasts. Korea does not have a platform competition in fact. It is reasonable to raise the reception ratio directly for the viewer`s welfare. If terrestrial TVs do not show multi-channel services, it will be difficult to improve reception environment."
By Jung Yoon Hee yuni@
[ copyright ⓒ The Digitaltimes ]
Currently, only about 5% of households receive terrestrial broadcasts directly through antennas in Korea. Most people watch TV broadcasts via paid TV such as cable TV, IPTV, and satellite broadcasting. However, the situation can be changed as the terrestrial direct reception rate increases in the case of the terrestrial UHD broadcasting which should be regarded as the direct receiving method is successfully settled. In this case, there is a prospect that the competition of broadcasting market will be different from the current one, which will be advantageous for terrestrial broadcasting.
The Korea Cable Television Association held a press conference on the subject of "Terrestrial UHD broadcasting, who is responsible?" at the Seodaemun-gu association office in Seoul on May 24, and claimed necessity of the retransmission of terrestrial UHD.
Moon Jun-woo, general manager of Korea Digital Cable Research Institute, claimed, "We need a new UHD reception environment as there are issues such as the existing UHD TV and the improvement of the environment of the public service offices. We plan to resend terrestrial UHD broadcasting through cable and IPTV It can be a realistic alternative.”
The terrestrial UHD broadcasting will begin from May 31 in the metropolitan area. This year, the city will expand to the end of the year end city and nationwide in 2021. Termination of the existing HD broadcasting is scheduled for coming 2027.
The problem is the terrestrial UHD reception environment. Terrestrial UHD broadcasts conform to the American Standard (ATSC 3.0). And TVs using it have not been available until February or March, this year. The UHD TV, which has been sold for about 1 million units, is a European standard (DVB-T2) and requires a separate converter. In the industry, UHD TV sales volume of American standard is still small, and converters are sold around the beginning of broadcasting. It is expected that only a small number of viewing furniture will be sold even if UHD broadcasting starts.
The paid TV industry claims UHD should also be retransmitted for this reason. It is a logic that claims there are very few households who can watch terrestrial UHD broadcasting anyway. In the process, it is noteworthy that terrestrial broadcasting is demanding UHD contents CPS which is higher than CPS of existing HD contents. Terrestrial and paid TV broadcasts are in conflict for many years, including legal conflict, over a reasonable CPS level. Cable industry expert said, "A terrestrial wave is applying the 700MHz frequency for UHD broadcasting free of charge with free universal service, and claiming CPS here is completely deterred.”
Terrestrial broadcasters are in totally different position. Currently, terrestrial broadcasters have no plan to retransmit UHD broadcasts on pay-per-view broadcasts. An official of the terrestrial broadcaster stated, "It is the first thing that the public can receive terrestrial UHD for free. We have not set up a retransmission policy yet and will focus on strengthening the terrestrial broadcasting platform."
The terrestrial broadcaster is expected to increase its influence on the broadcasting market by increasing the direct reception rate of 5% through UHD broadcasting. If we think only of the technical part, we can expect the reception ratio to be risen more than 30%. In the case of the direct reception ratio increases, the number of paid TV subscribers decreases. However, it is unclear how much the direct reception rate will actually increase as most viewers are familiar with multi-channel and Video-On-Demand (VOD).
Another terrestrial representative said, "It is aimed at meeting the viewer`s expectation that providing interactive home portal service such as watching pooq VOD in terrestrial UHD is possible.”
The government is supporting the terrestrial broadcasting that UHD broadcasting is only receiving the terrestrial direct reception. Koh Nan-jun, director of terrestrial broadcasting policy at the Korea Communications Commission, said "It is a big problem to raise the direct reception rate. But it is a big problem that terrestrial broadcasting is not planning to retransmit paid platform. There is no choice but to direct receipt of paid platform.” Lee Nam-pyo, a lecturer at Chung-Ang University, pointed out, "Most countries compete with complimentary platforms based on terrestrial broadcasting and paid TV broadcasts. Korea does not have a platform competition in fact. It is reasonable to raise the reception ratio directly for the viewer`s welfare. If terrestrial TVs do not show multi-channel services, it will be difficult to improve reception environment."
By Jung Yoon Hee yuni@