Tune in to Digital C

onvergence

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DVB - S

CENE

Edit ion No.13 March 2005

The Standard for the Digital World

This issue’s highlights

> IPTV Evolution

> DVB-H

> Focus: France

> OCAP

> Market Watch TV In Hand

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Peter M

acAvock, E

xecutive Director

A word from the DVB Project Office

Welcome to another issue of DVB-SCENE. This issue focuses mainly onDVB-H, an introduction to IPTV and theramifications of recent announcementsabout the launch of DVB-T in France.

Our opinion piece deals with China andprovides an interesting insight into thedevelopments in digital terrestrialtelevision there. Clearly, China hasenormous potential for digital TV andthe size of its market already makes it asignificant force in DVB-T. This despite

the stated aims of developing their ownsystem: one which will interact with theDVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T networksalready in place.

French DTT is on the way. Recentannouncements mean that France’sservices will be unlike any in the otherlarge European countries. Theannouncement of the adoption ofMPEG-4 Part 10 as the video codec ofchoice for the crucial pay-TV elementof the offering means that the race is

on to produce affordable consumerreception equipment.

And the work on DVB-H continues.Applications specifically targeting theDVB-H area are going to be a keyfactor in determining the success ofservices, and DVB is working hard atbringing together the philosophies andprotocols associated with DVBbroadcasting and mobiletelecommunications. It’s not easy, butthe rewards are promising indeed.

The ModulCast product range provides a comprehensive set of “ready-to-integrate” technical features for Transmitter, Base-Station and Equipment manufacturers:

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NEW MEMBERS

The views expressed in this newsletterare those of the individual DVB membersor guests and are not necessarily theviews of the DVB Project Office orSteering Board.

Published by the DVB Project Office,c/o European Broadcasting Union,17a Ancienne Route,CH-1218 Grand Saconnex, Switzerland.www.dvb.org & www.mhp.org

Editors: William Daly, Harold BerginEditorial and Advertising enquiries to: WHD PREmail: news@whdpr.comTelephone: +44 (0)20 7799 3100

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced without prior consent of the publisher. Allcontent correct at time of printing. © DVB-SCENE2005. DVB an MHP are registered trademarks of theDVB Project. Certain other product names, brandnames and company names may be trademarks ordesignations of their respective owners.

Printed by Lithmark Limited.Design by GyroGroup.

CONTENTS: 4 - The Co-Chairman of the TM for IPI introduces IPTV 6 - RTL NEWMEDIA looks at purposing content for handheld receivers

6 - Nokia & RTÉ conduct live DVB-H demo at DVB World 7 - Going mobile in the USA with Crown Castle 8 - NTL ponders the DVB-H business model

9 - TV Tech’s Scott Ge asks if DVB has a future in China10 - Focus: DTT in France

12 - What’s happening with OCAP?14 - MARKET WATCH - A look at DVB product launches

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DVB-SC

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“Telcos are increasingly planning for the broadband world where telephony and digital TV becomeInternet applications...”

The IP Infrastructure group within theDVB Technical Module (TM-IPI) hasrecently completed a specificationreferred to as the Phase 1 IPIHandbook. This describes the deliveryof MPEG-2 transport stream basedservices over IP networks and coverstransport, service discovery andselection plus signalling.

Complementary work on metadata forcontent-on-demand services has alsobeen completed. The first release of

the DVB-IP specification wasrecognised as an excellent start forany IPTV system at a majorworkshop held at the EBU recently. Itis already being implemented by oneEuropean telco (France Telecom) andothers are seriously considering it.However, further work is needed tomeet all of the industry requirementsand to build on new standards fromother industry bodies. The DVB IPTVand Home Networking commercialgroups are therefore producing aseries of new commercialrequirements and the IPI group isstarting to work on some of them.

The primary goal of the DVB IPTVworkshop was to inform the DVBcommunity of the progress that hasbeen made and the commercial casefor further DVB work in this area. Themorning session dealt withdevelopments in enabling technologyand broadband networkinfrastructure. It included somefascinating case studies fromEuropean operators that are nowintroducing IPTV services plus views

from the EBU, the EuropeanCommission and consumer electronicscompanies. The afternoonsession presented technical elementsof the first release of the DVB-IPspecification, the status of work oncommercial requirements for nextreleases and addressed questionsover what DVB should do and when.

Broadband Internet is growing fast(even faster than cellular phones atthe same point in the developmentcycle). Telcos are increasinglyplanning for the broadband worldwhere telephony and digital TVbecome Internet applications

and some are now introducing ‘tripleplay’ bundles that include broadcastTV and video-on-demand services.

The DVB vision is to build a contentenvironment that combines thestability and interoperability of theworld of broadcasting with the vigour,innovation and multiplicity of servicesof the world of the Internet. Manywithin DVB now agree with theapproach to fixed IPTV servicespresented by Telefonica at the

workshop. This assumes the use ofADSL to deliver triple play services toa wide range of consumer terminalsvia a home network which would bewired for demanding links butwireless wherever possible.DVB has an excellent track record ofenabling key elements of newsystems to be implemented in aninteroperable manner. It is thereforeseen as important for DVB to workwith other industry and standardsbodies (e.g. IETF, DSL Forum, DLNA)to extend the current DVBspecifications. The following list ofrequirements was (among others)

IPTV EVOLUTIONWill Dobbie, C0-Chairman, DVB TM-IPI

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identified during the IPTV workshop:

• Carriage of all DVB A/V formatsover MPEG-2 Transport Streams (inc.H264/AVC)

• Implementation of end-to-end IPQoS plus IP level FEC, as an option

• Downloading of content to PVRs

• Hybrid services using a combinationof IPTV and over-air delivery

• An extended metadata specificationallowing for live TV, content downloadedto PVRs and hybrid delivery

• A common approach to applicationenvironments plus authoringguidelines for ‘network serviceprovider’ applications aimed at TVs

• Home Networking specificationallowing for wired and wirelessnetworks that is easy to setup anduse (building on DLNA guidelines)

• Specification for an interface to aresidential home gateway

• Remote configuration and management

• Content security and DRM coveringIPTV access and home network(building on the DVB-CPCMspecifications)

• Network level security (includingauthorisation, authentication, DDoSattacks etc.)

• Carriage of all DVB A/V formatsdirectly over IP

Some of these requirements arealready recognised as essential in thenear term and work on them is welladvanced. Others are accepted asnecessary but effort has not yet beenfound to progress them. Some arenew and these (plus others) will bediscussed in the commercial groups.If your company is interested in IPTVor home networks you would be verywelcome to contribute to either thecommercial or technical work (orideally both). Please contact the DVBProject Office to find out more.

Will Dobbie is a consultant in the field ofinteractive multimedia networks andservices and currently represents BTwithin DVB. He started his career in theRoyal Air Force then worked for avariety of companies including MCSLbefore settling at BT Laboratories for 19years. During that time he was involvedwith a number of major broadcastingand interactive TV initiatives. Will has aPhD from Essex University.

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PURPOSINGCONTENT

Jürgen Sew

czyk, CTO

, R

TL NEW

MED

IA G

mbH

Vodaphone and T-Mobile in Germanyare working with RTL to offer theirrespective customers a variety ofmobile services. The RTL Mobileportal, available on Vodafone, offersmagazine, weather, comedy, advice/guidebook, TV and film information aswell as video clips from popular RTLprogrammes. The ‘RTL aktuell mobile’portal operated by T-Mobile offersnews with RTL’s anchorman PeterKloeppel, which can be received onehour before the live TV transmission.Content of the news portal can alsobe accessed via UMTS streaming,MMS (including video) or SMS.

Currently there are seven differenttypes of UMTS mobile phone availablein the German market. For theconversion of content into thedifferent mobile formats specific knowhow and equipment is necessary. Theexperience with WAP content showsus that with hundreds of differenttypes of mobile phones, content has tobe converted into up to 300 differentformats. As a consequence WAPbusiness is no business.

RTL Television is the source for thestreaming content that RTLNEWMEDIA repurposes and convertsinto the various mobile formats. Forthis a content management systemwith an interface to the existinginternet CMS was designed forediting.

Now with the next generation ofmobile technology emerging, DVB-Hwill be a new challenge for us,whether it will be a standalone or ahybrid solution with UMTS or GPRS.Many important questions regardingthe roll out of DVB-H are still to beanswered. What will be the mostsuitable transmission network? Will itbe the old television network incombination with the new mobilenetworks or the radio DABnetwork? Will DVB-H content bestrong enough to be autonomous fromthe mobile phone industry? Willtelevision content be the engine forDVB-H? Which API, browser orstreaming technology should bechosen? Will DVB-H offer anadditional way to deliver TV forportable reception on small TVscreens in kitchens, bedrooms andgardens throughout Germany in ahybrid system with DVB-T?To discuss these questions and findsolutions the Deutsche TV-Plattformhas formed the M3 working groupconsisting of public and private

broadcasters, T-Systems, the IRT,ICCM and Philips. Most of theM3 participants are also DVBmembers, which makes for anefficient and productive discussion.

WIDESCREEN DUBLINNokia and RTÉ collaborated to demonstrate DVB-H during the DVB World 2005Conference in Dublin in March.

For the demonstration RTÉNL transmitted four television channels – RTÉ One, RTÉTwo, TV3 and TG4 - from a low power transmitter situated at it’s DonnybrookTower in Dublin, some two kilometers from the conference venue at Jury’s Hoteland Towers. The DVB-H signal coverage was Dublin’s city centre.

The Nokia 7710 Widescreen Smartphone and the Nokia Streamer SU-22 were usedin the mobileTV demonstration.

The Nokia Streamer SU-22 is an active back cover solution for the Nokia 7710 withan integrated DVB-H antenna. It has more than three hours continuous A/Vstreaming time with a 1500 mAh battery. Interactivity with online web links throughexisting cellular networks and separate content rights delivery are also supported.

The 7710 and the Streamer SU-22 were designed for commercial trials in Europeand APAC during Spring 2005. Commercial pilots are confirmed for Helsinki, Finlandand Oxford, England.

Nokia will bring a Series 60 based smart device to market with integrated DVB-Hfeature in 2006. Several discussions on DVB-H related issues are ongoing indifferent countries with broadcasters, mobile & network operators.

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Not long ago, quality delivery oftelevision content to mobile deviceswas little more than a dream. Today,Crown Castle International is helpingmake the dream become both atechnological and commercial reality.

The path to reality began in May2003 when Crown Castle, anindependent owner and operator ofwireless network infrastructure,acquired 5MHz of nationwide radiospectrum in the USA. This licence,along with Crown Castle’s 10,000plus tower network, providesCrown Castle the opportunity todeploy a high quality, coast to coastDVB-H network for mobile phonesand other mobile devices.

Crown Castle’s interest in deliveringmultimedia content to handsets wasdriven by market research showingnearly 50 percent of mobile usersinterested in and willing to pay forpay-TV services. Crown Castlerecognised the limitations of existingunicast and broadcast networks toeffectively and efficiently deliver richcontent presented a compellingcommercial opportunity.

Combining advanced telecomnetworks knowledge in the US andUK with digital broadcast expertisein the UK, Crown Castle had theunique in-house expertise toadvance the development of aconvergent mobile media service.The first step was evaluatingcandidate technologies, includingISDB-T, DAB, DMB, and DVB-H.

DVB-H emerged as the technology ofchoice. DVB-H’s attributes combinethe best spectrum efficiency, RFperformance and efficiency ofhandset battery power usage. It isfast becoming the global standardwith the support of a critical range ofbroadcasters, mobile operators,

MOBILEIN THEUSAUSAUSAUSAUSANick Davies, CTO, Crown CastleMobile Media

infrastructure providers, handsetvendors, and content providers.

Crown Castle’s three site SingleFrequency test network, located inPittsburgh, PA, went live in August2004. The system accommodates avariety of live and stored video andaudio content, which is encoded andstreamed to the IPDC System - an IPencapsulator and service system with

functionalities including ESGinsertion and MPE-FEC. The content isthen distributed as a single stream totransmitters on Crown Castlesites and broadcast to receiversincluding DiBcom’s engineering testreceivers and Nokia’s 7700 handsets,both specifically engineered to workin Crown Castle’s 1670MHz band ofspectrum.

The Pittsburgh DVB-H network is thefirst example of true convergence ofbroadcast and mobile technology, andserves as a test bed to definetechnical, service and commercialmodels for the future. Crown Castle issupported in this effort by majorplayers such as Nokia, Thales,Axcera, Kathrein and DiBcom.

Since launch, Crown Castle has helddemonstrations for over 100 industrystakeholders including wirelessoperators, broadcasters, contentproviders, equipment suppliers,technology consultants, potentialinvestors, and representatives of theUS government.

In 2Q 2005, Crown Castle intends toexpand the Pittsburgh network to an

‘always on’ nine-site network. Thiswill enable Crown Castle to conductan in depth, friendly-user trial. Thetrial will broaden the evaluation toinclude DVB-H configuration choices(e.g. MPE-FEC rates, 2/4/8k Modes),network quality issues (indoor andoutdoor penetration/coverage, radiomodelling, infrastructure equipment,mobility, SFN gain), and end userservice (codecs, ESGs, payloadbudgets, and display resolutions/frame rates). During the trial, CrownCastle will continue to work withmajor content providers who aredeveloping specific programming forthe mobile environment and to workwith end users to optimise theconsumer experience.

Through efforts to date, Crown Castlehas established a leadership positionin the development of DVB-H as theMobile Media global standard. Thisprogress embodies Crown Castle’svision of the efficient sharing ofwireless network infrastructure.

Nick Davies is CTO at Crown CastleMobile Media. He was previouslyCrown Castle’s Project Director for theFreeview DTT relaunch, 3G Director,and Head of Broadcast Sales for theoriginal UK DTT launches.

“...fast becoming the global standard with the support of a criticalrange of broadcasters, mobile operators, infrastructure providers,handset vendors, and content providers.”

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With increasing public expectationsfor mobile communication, informationand entertainment, it is vital thatbroadcasters and content providersaddress the clear gap in the marketfor mobile TV. TV is an obviousmissing element from today’s mobilehandsets and mobile TV is an obviousmissing element from broadcasting.The technology now exists to providea truly converged and interactivemultimedia experience – anywhere,anytime. The technical trials arelargely done and now it’s time to testcommercial propositions andconsumer preferences.

So what are the best ways ofachieving all this? Shouldconventional broadcasters regardnew methods of delivery as a threator an opportunity? Should the mobilephone companies regardbroadcasting to mobiles ascompetition? How should content

providers go about finding newoutlets and new users? How cancontent owners protect their premiumassets? And how will the end userconsume this content?

Mobile TV provides a new channel tomarket for existing media players

IT’S THEBUSINESSTerry Howard, Head of Media Business Development, NTL Broadcast

seeking increased viewership andadditional potential revenues. Formobile operators it provides a low-cost and efficient delivery method forvalue-added services.

NTL Broadcast has carried outextensive market research aboutconsumer demand and likely viewinghabits for mobile TV. The results lookvery positive and exciting but theyneed to be validated in a trialenvironment in conjunction with keyplayers in the industry. That’s whywe’re mounting a large-scalecommercial trial in the Oxford area thisspring in conjunction with mobileoperator O2. With our significantbroadcasting assets, closerelationships with content companiesand track record of technologyinnovation, we’re ideally positioned topull this together and we expect theresults of the trial to help us shapeany future UK service deployment.

International interest is certainly onthe up, too; major trials of video/multimedia to mobile phones areunderway in several Europeancountries.

The latest advanced video codingtechniques make it possible to introduce

mobile TV with relatively modestamounts of bandwidth. A DVB-Hplatform could support an IP streamcarrying 20 or more pay-TV channels toa mobile phone with good quality.Increasingly large amounts of video,audio and other data can readily bestored on handheld devices with thearrival of small, high-capacity harddrives and memory cards. Content canbe trickled into devices when receptionis possible and then ‘snacked-on’ by theuser even when it is not. It is likely thatconsumers will want to take with thempreviously recorded material in additionto viewing live transmissions andupdated files on-the-move. NTLBroadcast research shows that there isa demand for a wide variety of content,provided it can be consumed reliablyand conveniently in any location.

For any commercial service, it isapparent that diverse and naturallycompeting organisations will need tocooperate and form partnerships, eachplaying to their own strengths.Broadcasters are good at making andmanaging content, mobile phonecompanies are good at billing andcustomer relationships, serviceproviders like NTL Broadcast have thenetwork infrastructure to deliver thecontent.

The technology was never really indoubt, but what is becoming clear is thecommercial basis for the applicationsthat are emerging, just what the generalpublic is willing to pay for and on whatbasis. Getting it right will be crucial tothe success of an important newinteractive delivery platform.

“...provides a new channel to market for existing media playersseeking increased viewership and additional potential revenues.”

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Digital technology for TV has openedthe possibility for watching TV on publictransport and even on mobile phones.2004 saw much progress in thedeployment of digital mobile TV in China.

In January 2003, the ShanghaiOriental Pearl Mobile TV Multimedia Co.Ltd. launched the first mobile TVservice in Shanghai using DVB-T,generating significant revenues. InJune 2004, the Beijing All Media &Culture Group officially launchedDVB-T based mobile TV services tobuses in the city. Mr. Ding Wenhui,Chief Engineer of Mobile TV Co.Beijing All Media & Culture Group saidthe service was profitable for thecompany. By the year end of 2004,the service had also been extended tosome 20,000 taxis in Beijing.

In all, Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha insouthern China’s Hunan province,Nanjing the capital of the easternChinese province of Jiangsu and theport city of Tianjin in northern China

tested DVB-T based mobile TVservices in 2004. There were alsofurther trials in the provinces ofGansu and Hunan taking the totalnumber of cities/provinces exploringmobile TV to around 20. Among them,about half adopted the provenEuropean standard DVB-T.

Although DVB-T remains the favouritechoice for Chinese broadcasters,with its proven business models inover 30 countries, chances for DVB-Tof becoming China’s national standardare becoming more and more slim.China has vowed to develop its ownstandard, taking into consideration thepatent fee risks experienced by thecountry’s DVD and colour TVindustries. As a matter of fact, underthe effective lobbying efforts byShenzhen Tsinghua Leaguer DigitalTelevision Co. Ltd., the high techventure arm of Research Institute ofTsinghua University in Shenzhen,

some cities in China have turned toDigital Multimedia Broadcast Terrestrialstandard (DMB-T), the Tsinghua madeDTT technology.

Beside the multi carrier technologybased COFDM solution DMB-T,another competent standard that hasbeen submitted to the country’sdecision makers is the single carriertechnology based Advanced DigitalTelevision Broadcast Terrestrial(ADTB-T) from Shanghai JiaotongUniversity. Both DMB-T and ADTB-Thave a long list of supporters from themanufacturing industry. Fierce

competition between the two groupshas delayed China again and again inannouncing its choice. “The patent feeissue has made coordination betweenthe two very difficult,” said Mr. ZhangZhijian, Chairman, Technical ResearchCommittee, China Radio & TV Societyand Senior Consultant, Science &Technology Committee of SARFT, inBeijing on 16 November 2004. Zhangalso holds the title of Director of DigitalTelevision Standard Group, SARFT.

“We’re also worried that it will affectthe ‘Digital Olympics’ in the 2008 29thOlympiad if it fails to come out by theend of this year (2004), since theoptimising process will also take atleast one year,” said Zhang.According to Zhang, the ChineseAcademy of Engineering (CAE) hassped up the integration of the two DTTcandidate standards.

According to SARFT’s ‘Three-Step’digital conversion strategy, China is

set to launch DTT services in 2005,with complete digital conversion by2015. But without a common nationalstandard, what can broadcasterscomply with? While satellitebroadcasting in China adopts DVB-Sand cable uses the de facto standardDVB-C, the digital terrestrial televisionbroadcast standard is now among thehottest debates in the industry. Itseems the broadcasting industry hasnow reached a commonunderstanding that the country shoulddevelop its own standard, which musthave independent intellectual property

rights with technological advancementand be economically viable.

Does this mean ‘no chance for DVB’?Things are never that simple. In fact,both satellite and cable broadcastingin China uses DVB standards. In2003, Cable broadcasting in Chinabegan digital conversion with DVB-C,with a goal to migrate 30 millionsubscribers to digital by 2005. Recentdevelopments say China will launchDirect Broadcasting Satellite (DBS) in2006, with DVB-S.

Back to DVB-T and the new DVB-H,it’s still early to say there won’t be amarket for them. “DVB-T is a provenstandard, with a lot of geographicaland coverage tests worldwide, whichis a critical criteria for operators tomake decisions,” says Mr. DingWenhui. Ding’s remarks also reflectthe fact that most of the mobiletelevision explorers in China are DVB-T based.

MOBILE TV: WILL DVBHAVE A MARKET INCHINA?

In My Opinion - Scott Ge

Scott Ge is the Editor of Broadcast & Production China(www.imaschina.com) a China based monthly trade publication(circulation 22,000). He covers technology and business issues onRadio, TV, Digital Cable, Post Production and Pro Audio.

“...the digital terrestrial television broadcast standard is now among the hottest debates in the industry.”

France is the last of the Big Five tolaunch DTT - how successful will theplatform be? With strong growth in theUK and Italy, expectations will be highthat French DTT will match theirresults, but that is not a forgoneconclusion. If fact, growth in the earlyperiod may be rather anaemic andslow growth means more headachesfor analogue switch-off plannersdown the road.

DTT was set to launch in France inautumn 2003 with a strong freechannel offer and a key role given tothe public broadcaster. The plan nowis for DTT to carry a roughly evenfree/pay mix of about thirty channelswith the free component launching atthe end of March. All the paytelevision services may not beavailable until spring 2006 (althoughindividual players may launch earlier).

ANALYSISAlexander Shulzycki, Senior Media Analyst, EBU

Laurent Jabiol, Managing D

irector&

Co-founder, N

eotion

After years of DTT debates, Francehas eventually decided to combine bothMPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards, thusbeing the very first country to makeMPEG-4 mandatory for pay-DTT.

Such a pioneering decision deservesmore than a simple translation: iteffectively reflects the French DTV longterm vision.

Starting late has some advantages, likethe ability to use the most advancedtechnology. That is the point that TF1made last spring when they first startedto actively promote MPEG-4 AVC and toskip MPEG-2.

Beyond the intense and conflictinglobbying activities that then took place,the French authorities safely decided tocarry out extensive surveys, thusevaluating the opportunity to makebandwidth provisions to enable bothHDTV and DVB-H. Taking the rightdecision was not simple. On one hand,France always likes to be a pioneerwhen it comes to TV technologies(backing up a cultural heritage that wasprobably first inspired by the Lumièrebrothers who invented Cinema in LaCiotat). On the other hand, being thefirst could result in being the only one,thus duplicating past isolation likeSecam and D2Mac.

The decision to go along with twostandards is actually ideal for preparingFrench DTT for future decades. Farmore than being just another network,DTT will drive the nation’s objective toeventually fulfil the analogue switch-offobligation. Following the tremendoussuccess of the British and Germandeployments, French DTT will firstleverage on free channels (today 14,and soon more). The cost of equipmentis key, and MPEG-2 was really the onlyway to take advantage of the globaleconomy of scale to obtain a 50 Europrice point objective for digital adapters.

FOCUS: FRANCEAlso, there was definitely a consensusfor HDTV and DVB-H, but simply notenough room to fit in high definition andthe 15 pay-TV channels alreadylicensed. Therefore, it made sense toimpose MPEG-4 standard definition forpay-TV, so that one multiplex couldremain free for DVB-H. With betterMPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compressionperformances expected by 2006, theway is open for 4 to 5 additionalMPEG-4 high definition services.

There will be no subsidy programmeas in Italy and no large free-to-airoffer as in the UK.

On the plus side, France has a highlevel of terrestrial-only households atabout 14 million (64 percent), but onaverage only half of thesehouseholds will be in DTT coverageareas through the first year afterlaunch. Assuming that coverage roll-out1 proceeds on schedule and that acompetitive set-top box marketdevelops, take up in the first year willdepend heavily on the free-to-airoffer and more specifically on thenew free channels. This is riskybecause these channels areunknown and even if they do provepopular it will take time.

Moreover, the primary benefit forthese channels may not be theirpresence on DTT but guaranteed

Anticipating the emergence of IDTV,which in Europe is by law MPEG-2 andCI compliant, French distribution willprobably favour MPEG-4 modulesturning CI adapters or IDTVs intodecoders by adding ConditionalAccess and MPEG-4 capabilities. Tomake this happen in the consumermarketplace, the Ministry of Industryand the National Cinema Associationhave given subsidies to a number ofFrench companies.

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distribution over cable and satelliteplatforms through a ‘must carry’ status.

Considering growth curves from non-subsidised free-to-air DTT in othercountries one could expect perhapsone million DTT households after ayear, but because of the strong payorientation of the French platform itmay be more reasonable to expectcloser to half this amount. That maynot be enough.

The pay-TV component2 as driver? -Several ADSL offers, two DTHplatforms, and a consolidating cablesector mean a highly competitive pay-TV market in France. A paycomponent could certainly be a part ofa DTT platform after penetration hasgrown - TopUp TV on Freeview is agood model - however, there is noevidence that a pay oriented DTTplatform by itself can generate massmarket demand.

In short, a mixed model could meanmixed results and France maybeleaning too heavily on the pay side.Fortunately, it’s not too late. There areseveral licences still to be reallocatedand the sixth multiplex is up for grabs.It may be prudent for DTT planners toremain flexible and consider other

options in case growth does not meetexpectations. Adjusting the modeltowards more free channels andenhancing the role of publicbroadcasters has been proven towork in other markets.1 In the initial phase, 35 percent of thepopulation will have access to DTT services.In September, coverage is expected to reach50 percent followed by 65 percent by March2006. By 2007, it is expected that 80 percentwill have access to DTT services.2 Pay channels are to launch in MPEG-4.This ruling, which left some broadcasters‘stupified’ and one astonished networkoperator calling the decision ‘inopportune’, willlead to market confusion, and technicalcomplexity. Although a lot of credit is due tothe pioneering nature of this initiative it maybe at the expense of driving growth.

Following the world’s firstdemonstration of a second generationHDTV transmission, by DVB on itsstand at IBC 2004, utilising the newDVB-S2 satellite specification coupledwith the latest generation of codingtechnologies – H.264/AVC andWindows Media 9 (Enhanced Profile),DirecTV demonstrated a live MPEG-4AVC/DVB-S2 HD transmission viasatellite at the 2005 InternationalConsumer Electronics Show (CES).

The new standard in transmission willbe used by DirecTV to expand its videooffer by launching hundreds of localand national HD channels later this yearand in 2007.

Twelve of the largest designated marketareas in the US will be among the firstto receive DirecTV delivered localchannels in HD in the second half ofthis year. DirecTV will begin theexpansion of its capacity with theplanned launch of four next generationsatellites that will deliver more than1,500 local HD and more than 150national HD channels and otheradvanced programming services toconsumers nationwide by 2007.

The first market areas to receive localHD channels are: New York, LosAngeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston,San Francisco, Dallas, WashingtonD.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston andTampa. These markets represent nearly36 million homes or 32.8 percent of allU.S. TV households.

Initially DirecTV will carry each of theprimary broadcast networks that offeran HD feed in the market and customerswho subscribe to a local channelpackage will receive both the standardand HD signal. HD local programmingwill be received via a single dish –slightly larger than the current standarddish – and customers will require newHD set-top boxes due to the newcompression technology.

S2 COVERSAMERICA

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THE CABLEGUYS

Donald P. Dulchinos directs andmanages the OpenCable project, andoversees the development of theOpenCable hardware specificationand the OpenCable ApplicationPlatform (OCAP) and the removablesecurity module called CableCARD.

Cable television and consumerelectronics (CE) have made significantprogress lately in their pursuit of asuccessful digital delivery system thatmeets both their business objectives.That rate of progress increasedsignificantly in Q4 2004 and inearly 2005 with groundbreakingannouncements that CableLabsreached agreements with bothSamsung and LG Electronics.Throughout 2004, the fruits of theDecember 2002 unidirectionalagreement between cable and CEproviders began to appear inincreasing quantities on retail shelves.These are digital and HDTV setsequipped with the CableCARD slot, todescramble premium cableprogrammes without the need for anexternal set-top box.

A point of context: Three years ago, ahandful of CableCARD-equipped TVsshowed up at the InternationalConsumer Electronics Show (CES).

By the holiday selling season of 2004,an estimated 1 million CableCARD-equipped devices were in the retailpipeline headed toward customers.By early 2005, the cable industry hadinstalled some 25,000 CableCARDs.

As of early 2005, 14 consumerelectronics manufacturers had beenapproved or self certified to marketCableCARD enabled products andthere were 161 CableCARD-enabledconsumer electronics products beingmarketed.

As of late 2004, 12 manufacturershad 120 digital television models thathad either been self verified or hadreceived verification from CableLabsas being compliant with theunidirectional test suite.

CE makers and cable MSOs continueto negotiate for an agreement onbidirectional devices. By contrast, theagreements between Samsung and

OCAP is a GEM-based (Globally Executable MHP) terminal specification designed to fit the technical andbusiness environment of the cable industry in the US. It solves the problem of proprietary operatingsystem software by creating a common platform upon which interactive services may be deployed.

Donald P. Dulchinos, Vice President,Advanced Platforms and Services, CableLabs

“...programme networks have been reluctant to develop interactivematerials that run on a portion of cable’s national coverage area.”

CableLabs and LG Electronics andCableLabs serve to accelerate thedevelopment of digital products thatinclude interactive elements, such asnavigational guides, on-demand videoordering, and other interactiveapplications.

The agreement with Samsung andwith LG is available to all consumerelectronics manufacturers. It grantsintellectual property rights required tobuild interactive devices that are incompliance with the OpenCablehardware and softwarespecifications. The agreement isknown industrially as ‘CHILA’ — theCableCARD Host Interface LicensingAgreement. At the heart of theagreement is the OpenCableApplications Platform, or OCAP.

What is OCAP? We define it asmiddleware software that enables thedevelopers of interactive televisionservices and applications to design

products that run successfully on anycable television system in NorthAmerica, independent of set-top ortelevision receiver hardware, oroperating system software choices.

Although it is technically possible forcable providers to host applicationsfrom programme networks withoutOCAP, it is a decidedly sub-optimalsituation, because the programmerwould have to separately port theapplication to dozens of proprietaryCE or set-top operating systems.

Without a standard and ubiquitoussoftware environment, like OCAP,content providers are faced withhaving to make a choice amongavailable software platforms, whichdon’t always interoperate. As a directresult, programme networks havebeen reluctant to develop interactivematerials that run on only a portion ofcable’s national coverage area.

By transitioning to a single softwareenvironment, cable providers andprogramme networks can work todeploy a single set of applications toOCAP-enabled devices — such aswhat Samsung agreed to build whenit signed the CableLabs agreement inOctober.

Interoperability events continue forOCAP developers. In summer 2004,two dozen companies participated inan OCAP interoperability effort atCableLabs, the third suchinteroperability event. The intent wasto assure that applications writtenindependently by content providerscan run successfully on an OCAPstack built into consumer electronicsdevices or cable set-tops.

It is anticipated that the number ofOCAP-based hardware devices suchas CableCARD-equipped digital andHDTV sets will grow in the samefashion as did OpenCable hardwareitems. Samsung set the first marker onOCAP inclusion; other CEmanufacturers are welcome to get asimilar head start.

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In the midst of the growing proliferation of open standards interactive television throughout the world, Korean cableoperator, CJ CableNet, has launched the world’s first commercial deployment of OCAP services in February.

As a major MSO in Korea with over 1.2 million subscribers, CJ CableNet is now providing several value added OCAPservices as part of its compelling digital cable TV offering. Subscribers are currently enjoying interactive services thatinclude weather and news portals, mosaic EPG, horoscope, lottery, games, SMS, cinema information and ticketing, digitalaudio portal, and real VOD. Additional services that are scheduled for later this year with the MSO are T-commerce, T-banking, network games, TV karaoke, polling, golf information, enhanced cooking, flash player, and T-government.

CJ CableNet made its decision to implement OCAP services in order to leverage the significant benefits that open standardtechnologies provide. With the wide availability of world class technologies that the open standard industry promotes, thecompany selected Alticast as the prime integrator for its project. In addition, Alticast provided its comprehensive OCAPsolutions and services, including various OCAP applications. Humax and Samsung are initially supplying the MSO with theset-top boxes embedded with the Alticast AltiCaptor OCAP middleware, which is based on its widely adopted MHP solution.

“We are pleased to be the very first cable operator in the world to deploy value-added OCAP services for oursubscribers,” said Mr. Yong Hoon Wang, General Manager at CJ CableNet. “We are confident that our decision toimplement our new platform based on open standards will exceed our expectations technologically and economically.”

“As the prime integrator for this project, Alticast’s main focus was to enable CJ CableNet to deploy their new servicessmoothly, rapidly, and successfully,” said Mr. Thomas Jung, Project Director at Alticast. “We welcomed the challenge oftheir tight schedule, and believe that our worldwide experiences in open standard iTV deployments helped us to completethe project in just seven months, from project start to commercial deployment.”

OCAPDEBUT

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Pixelmetrix is introducing thefollowing new products: Visualmpeg,a complete family of analysis tools forevaluating and testing MPEG-basedadvanced coding; the DVStation-IPPortable, a new standalone productideal for anyone involved in thetransmission on MPEG-2 data overthe internet or other IP networks, andits DVStor product line which nowboasts a storage range from 100 GBto 2 TB. The company has alsoannounced that the DVStation nowsupports DVB-H.

DVStation-IP Portable

IDway has launched its MHP productrange for the Italian market. Embeddedin 32 MB total RAM, the companybelieves that it is the smallest footprintMHP product currently available forthat market. Optimised forSTMicroelectronics (OS20) and IBMppc (VxWorks, Linux or SagemMicroto) chipsets, it comprisescertified 1.02b middleware, and a setof applications that makes a STBready for production The MHP suiteincludes conditional access, such asNagraVision, Irdeto and the specificapplications required for Italy’sMediaset Premium and La 7 services.

The Kreatel IP-STB 1520 is a hybridIP set-top box that integrates a DVB-Treceiver for free-to-air DTV in additionto services and interactivity overEthernet. The STB is intended fortelecom operators and broadbandservices deploying enhanced videoand communication services over IP.Premium television content can alsobe a part of the service bundling,either offered in partnership withterrestrial broadcasters, or offered asMPEG2 over IP multicast.

Although the set-top box normallyreceives its software over anEthernet connection, it hasfunctionality stored in flash memory tobe able to run in standalone mode, i.e.only DVB-T broadcasts and no IP-based services.

Kreatel IP-STB 1520MARKET

WATCH

Micronas has introduced the FRC9429A, its latest generation of framerate converter with vector-basedmotion estimation and compensation.With this technology, the chipcalculates the shift in position ofevery object on the screen betweeneach frame. It then uses thisinformation to precisely interpolate theobject’s location in intermediateframes. The result is smooth realmotion, instead of the edgymovements and blurring common toconventional DTV displays.

Micronas FRC 9429A

ProTelevision Technologies islaunching a DVB-H Trial Kit. Includedin a compact rack are the corebuilding blocks necessary for creatingand encapsulating a DVB-H transportstream in a DVB-H compliant COFDMspectrum as required for deliveringcontent to mobile handheld devices:IPE Manager, IPE Encapsulator (DVB-H), MIP Inserter, and DVB-T/HModulator.

ProTelevision DVB-H Trial Kit

Softel has announced support foroutputting OCAP applications. Inaddition to OCAP, its MediaSphere TXand MediaSphere Lab carousels arecapable of outputting MHP, ACAP,GEM, MHEG and other proprietarystreams applications.

Softel MediaSphere

Harris Corporation is strengtheningits role as a leading provider of digitalbroadcast equipment by introducingfull DVB-H functionality for its DVB-Ttransmitter series Atlas DTV660covering the power range from 5W to3,4kW. In addition Harris is nowoffering its SFN Adapter Synchrony ina fully DVB-H compliant version.

Harris Synchrony SFN Adapter

Osmosys SDK 2.0 (SoftwareDevelopment Kit) is a complete JavaIntegrated Development Environment(IDE) for development and testing ofMHP & OCAP applications onWindows based PC systems. It isseamlessly integrated with Eclipse, awell known free Java IDE. SDK2.0contains all the features from SDK1.0plus a lot of new ones. The companyalso offers a full DeveloperProgramme with SDK 2.0. for thosewishing to benefit from the company’stechnical and business expertise.

Osmosys SDK 2.0

The R&S SFU from Rohde &Schwarz is a system platform fordeveloping and thoroughly testingnew digital transmission methods inTV. Besides DVB-T, the R&S SFU also

Rohde & Schwarz SFU

supports the standards DVB-H andDVB-S2. The R&S SFU, which isupgradeable for future developments,can replace a system consisting ofvarious individual instruments. Itcombines a test transmitter, a signalgenerator for MPEG-2 streams, achannel simulator, a digital AWGNnoise source and an ARB generatorplus an RF modulator in a singleplatform.

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Philips DSR 2010

EchoStar has launched the PVR-5020,a satellite television receiver with twotuners, a hard disk, an MP3 player andmany games. The dual tunerconfiguration lets you watch andrecord simultaneously, automaticallyassigning the tuners to the desiredactivities. It can record up to fourprogrammes while watching anotherand a second one in picture-in-picture.The receiver is available with an 80,160 or 250 Gbyte hard disk.

EchoStar PVR-5020

SIDSA has announced the introductionof its SID16000 DVB-T/H demodulatorIC for portable television devices suchas mobile phones, PDAs, notebookPCs and in-car set-top boxes, whichprovides high quality reception in bothfixed or handheld environments.

Also new from SIDSA is the DVB-H IPEncapsulator (Gateway) forgenerating a DVB-H transport streamready for modulation and transmission.All possible time-slicing and FECoperational modes are supported aswell as mode combination withdifferent time-slice periods anddetailed reporting of burst allocationand timing. Optional features are DVB-T signal re-multiplexing, as well asMPEG-2 to MPEG-4 recoding.

SIDSA DVB-H IP Encapsulator

The new Tektronix MTS4EA VideoElementary Stream Analyzer is asoftware product that offers a flexible,upgradeable test solution for next andcurrent generation video compressiontechnologies. It provides completeelementary stream analysis support forMPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.261,H.263, H.263+ and 3GPP standards.Next generation video compressionstandards such as H.264/AVC arebecoming critical for future high volumeconsumer products, such as: DVB-Hmobile phones, broadband DSL set topboxes and high definition DVD.

Tektronix MTS4EA

The new Scopus DSNG E-1720combines encoding, modulation andup-conversion in a one rack mountedunit that provides broadcast quality of70/140 IF and 950-2150 Mhz L-bandoutputs as well as a separate L-bandmonitoring output. Various satellitemodulation schemes are supported inthe form of QPSK /8PSK /16QAM.

The company has also announcedthat its universal encoding platformUE-9000, now implements dualchannel MPEG-2 real time encodingand provides broadcasters with amigration path from MPEG-2 to newcompression algorithms such as the

Scopus UE-9000

standard and high definition MPEG-4Part 10 (H.264) and VC1 formats.

Cardinal Systems has releasedits middleware for IP DatacastMedia Terminals and DVB-H handsets.It provides a Java2ME CDC run timeenvironment, a rendering engine withplug-ins for both software based andhardware accelerated A/V players aswell as an extensive Java API.

Middleware functionality includestuning DVB-H receivers, playing audioand video received over a broadcastbearer and rendering XHTML-basedcontent. The middleware also enablessupport for worldwide localisationand over-the-air software updates.

Cardinal IPDC middleware can beported to any embedded operatingsystem, and is already available forEmbedded Linux, Pocket PC andSymbian operating systems.

Philips is releasing the DSR 2010, adigital satellite receiver certified byGerman operator Premiere. The newset-top box is designed for thereception of free-to-air and Premierepay-TV standard definition

programmes. The receiver isprovided with the Nagravisionconditional access system. TheEPG allows simple timerprogramming and the receiver isfitted with recording control formost Philips VCR/DVD+RWrecorders. Unique horizontal orvertical positioning and rotatablefour-digit display allow the viewerto read the channel number ineither position.