euro news_news 26/11/2014 19:55 Page 6
Viacom: “We'll own
Channel 5 forever”
P
Digital UK: "Govt. must
compensate any spectrum loss"
lex Pumfrey, chief
operating officer of
Digital UK - the
company which supports the
UK’s terrestrial TV service and
its viewers - has suggested that
digital terrestrial television will
remain an important user of
spectrum into the future.
Participating in a Westminster
eForum Keynote Seminar on the next
steps for spectrum, Pumfrey noted
that DTT was playing its part in the
more efficient use of spectrum.
“We've already released 128
megahertz through switchover and
the 800 megahertz clearance process
A
100,000 homes needing new aerials.
“It's our mission that viewers must
not miss out and bear the cost. The
government must ensure sufficient
funding for the transition,” she
asserted.
In terms of future international
debate on such matters, Pumfrey
warned of the risk of the UK standing
on the sidelines as policy was
decided, and declared: “There must
be no negative impact on DTT
viewing.”
As to whether DTT would be as
important in 10 or 20 years time as it
is today, Pumfrey highlighted the
major technical and consumer
challenges in replacing DTT
for IP television. “So our
answer is a resounding 'Yes',”
she concluded.
Jane Humphreys, head of
spectrum at the UK's
Department for Culture,
Media and Sport, suggested
that although consumption of
audiovisual content may have
changed radically, it would be
“plain wrong” to rebrand TV in the
frequencies below 700[Mhz] in a way
that assumed and guaranteed that
terrestrial TV would continue
through the 2030s and 2040s. She
said the ideal solution was: “If we
could just come up with a solution
that allowed audiovisual and mobile
data service providers to co-exist
happily, sharing common
infrastructure, with a wide range of
frequencies, with business able to
innovate, without major intervention
from either Ofcom or government.”
“It's our mission that
viewers must not miss
out and bear the cost.
The government must
ensure sufficient funding
for the transition,”
and there is growing use of the DVBT2 transmission standard.”
In terms of spectrum sharing, she
said that Digital UK recognised that it
needed to go further in both releasing
and sharing spectrum. She noted that
if the proposed opening up of the
700Mhz band to mobile operators
went ahead, and was released from
DTT, then the platform would, in
2022, have just half the allocation it
had prior to 2012.
She advised that such a move
would require retuning with some
12 EUROMEDIA
hilippe Dauman, president and CEO of
Viacom (below), has confirmed the
broadcaster's long-term commitment to
UK commercial Public Service Broadcaster
Channel 5, which it acquired for £450 million
(€575m) in May 2014.
Dauman made the comment as he revealed that
the UK would be the first international territory to
roll out popular US cable network Spike, an
initiative he said was made possible by Viacom's
ownership of Channel 5,
which gave it access to a
pipeline of factual
content. “Combined with
Spike's US content and
targeted acquisitions, it
represents a powerful
programme line-up that
we are very confident
will prove popular with
British TV viewers.”
Spike will launch on
UK DTT platform
Freeview early in 2015, making it available free-toair to an additional 11 million homes in the UK.
Addressing members of the Broadcasting Press
Guild in London, Dauman note