❝ Terrestrial broadcasting has been the most important information channel for China ’ s populace and is a major platform for the government to provide basic public services to the people , especially in rural areas where cable TV is not available .❞
March 2016 DISTRIBUTION 25
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TeamCast is also supporting South Korean broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System ( KBS ) on its journey towards realising 4K / UHD terrestrial transmission . Since South Korea ’ s analogue TV switch-off was finalised in December 2010 , KBS has conducted a number of 4K / UHD terrestrial transmission trials , and recently selected TeamCast ’ s exTra3.0 ATSC 3.0 exciter .
With exTra3.0 , KBS will continue to build pilot networks for a “ real size experimentation ” and for checking the interoperability of the first receiver prototypes , leading to a plausible 4K / UHD transmission of the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in the South Korean city of PyeongChang , reveals Eric Pinson , business unit manager of TeamCast .
Completing the quartet of DTT standards are Japan ’ s ISDB-T standard , and the Chinese standard , DTMB , which is used in countries such as Hong Kong and Macau , besides the Chinese mainland .
According to David Zhang , VP of Beijing Novel-Super Digital TV Technology ( NSTV ), the development of DTT continues to retain significant importance in China , with DTMB having been mandated as the compulsory standard for China ’ s DTT since 2007 .
Zhang tells APB : “ Terrestrial broadcasting has been the most important information channel for China ’ s populace and is a major platform for the government to provide basic public services to the people , especially in rural areas where cable TV is not available .”
He points out that while cable TV subscribers in China now number 224.9 million — 172 million of which enjoy digital cable TV — and satellite TV subscribers exceed the 37 million mark , there are still about 200 million rural households that would not have access to public broadcast services without terrestrial TV .
Calling the next five to10 years a “ crucial period ” for the development of DTT in China , Zhang says : “ Once the coverage of CCTV1 , CCTV7 and some local channels have exceeded the analogue level and the terrestrial terminals have been almost popularised ,
❝ Terrestrial broadcasting has been the most important information channel for China ’ s populace and is a major platform for the government to provide basic public services to the people , especially in rural areas where cable TV is not available .❞
— David Zhang , Vice-President ,
Beijing Novel-Super Digital TV Technology ( NSTV )
the Chinese government will shut down the terrestrial analogue TV signal and announce the full conversion to digital TV .
“ With the development of the AVS + ( Audio Video coding standard ), the DTMB + AVS mode is also being industralised and will become the standard mode for China ’ s terrestrial digital TV .”
And NSTV continues to play a key role in China ’ s digital transition , with the adoption of more than 90 HD and SD set-top boxes ( STBs ) integrated with NSTV ’ s conditional access system ( CAS ) , in regions such as Sichuan , Beijing , Chongqing and Heilongjiang , among others .
Zhang relates : “ NSTV is always working on providing full industry chain products and endto-end solutions for broadcast , Internet and telecommunications operators . We provide operators the optimum solutions according to their specific needs , from signal transmission , decoding multiplexer , signal encryption to terminal signal reception .”
NSTV solutions are also not
For broadcasters looking to expand their multi-screen business or further monetise their content , Beijing NSTV offers the Screen Cross Solution , which allows operators to send terrestrial digital TV signals to mobile terminals , including smartphones and tablets .
specific to DTMB , as Zhang reports successful DVB-T / T2 projects in countries such as Myanmar , Tanzania , Namibia and Malavi , where STBs integrated with NSTV ’ s CAS supports MPEG-2 , MPEG-4 , HD / SD , and advanced security , which allows NSTV to provide terminal products based on different levels of requirements .
For broadcasters looking to expand their multi-screen business or further monetise their content , NSTV offers the Screen Cross Solution , which allows operators to send DTT signals to mobile terminals , including smartphones and tablets .
Zhang concludes : “ For content security , operators should know that even for free-to-air ( FTA ) programmes , NSTV ’ s CAS can collect user data to allow you to understand your operations better . We can also provide the reference for the advertisement dividend and as the value of content continues to rise , many operators are facing the problem of converting from FTA to pay-services .
“ Because NSTV ’ s CAS is integrated with the headend and terminal , bringing it into FTA will be a necessary step in the conversion to pay-services .”
While IP , over-the-top ( OTT ), download-to-own ( DTO ) and mobile content access are creating a rapidly shifting landscape in the world of content delivery , TV remains the most effective means of engaging audiences , and DTT FTA continues to dominate the broadcast and content delivery landscape in many markets , Colin Prior , APAC sales manager at Enensys , points out . “ In the FTA arena , digital terrestrial stands alone as the most effective delivery method now and in the immediate future , especially when regional content is required .”
How then can broadcasters effectively monetise content and generate new revenues from existing content assets and infrastructure ?
Prior answers : “ With DTT infrastructure already a major investment for many broadcasters and network operators , the last thing they want to be faced with is the need for expensive new additions to meet the need for local content provision .
“ What ’ s needed is a solution that can not only easily and seamlessly integrate with existing DTT network infrastructure , but also enable local content delivery without requiring the creation of complete local playout and distribution networks .”
The answer lies in a simple and straightforward way to address local video content delivery within a DTT network by facilitating the insertion of local content at the final stage of DTT delivery . In this manner , Prior says , local services can be better monetised as they target specific regional audiences , enabling deployment of local advertising and content .
From this perspective , Enensys offers the AdsEdge , part of the company ’ s wider DTT network optimisation and regionalisation strategy , which helps generate addi tional revenues by the delivery of targeted content over terrestrial networks including DVB-T / T2 and ISDB-T / Tb .
Industry standard SCTE 35 triggers enable locally targeted content to be inserted at the edge
As DTT gradually becomes a universal truth , the transition will also allow broadcasters to take advantage of IP across transmitter networks . of the content delivery process — at the transmitter site — within a DTT single frequency network ( SFN ) environment . The technology is fully deterministic , which means it can handle the constraints of transmitting the exact same content on the exact same frequency , at the exact same time .
As DTT gradually becomes a universal truth , the transition will also allow broadcasters to take advantage of IP across transmitter networks , says GatesAir ’ s Richmond . GatesAir ’ s line-up of products include the Maxiva XTE exciter , which offers native IP transport capability , IP-based synchronisation , monitoring and control .
For multi-platform delivery , GatesAir ’ s Maxiva StreamAssure allows broadcasters to monitor and ensure a high quality of experience and quality of service not only for terrestrial transmission , but also for cable , satellite and new media platforms such as mobile and OTT .
Richmond continues : “ For many years , GatesAir has offered high-efficiency solutions that deliver the lowest cost of ownership . We continue to innovate with market-leading energy-efficiency , software-defined exciters that allow broadcasters to migrate from analogue to digital ; or among digital standards with a software upgrade .”
As a final tip , Richmond urges broadcasters not to be overly concerned about STB or receiver costs and availability when considering a newer standard . “ The reality is that by the time the network is in deployment , the economies in production will drive receiver prices down significantly . While paying attention to the availability of receivers is important , that probably shouldn ’ t be the major driving decision around digital TV deployment ,” he concludes .