Further supplementary memorandum submitted
by Digital UK
THE CHANNEL TRANSITION PERIOD
BACKGROUND
— Currently the core coverage of the
full Freeview channel line-up reaches approximately 73% of UK
households. However, coverage of the BBC multiplex is around 83%
of UK households.
— After DSO the core coverage of the
PSB multiplexes is predicted to be 98.5%.
— Therefore approximately 15.5% of
UK households (circa 4 million homes) who will be in DTT coverage
after DSO cannot receive any DTT prior to DSO.
— The scale of the difference between
pre and post DSO coverage will vary from region to region.
THE ISSUE
— 83% of UK households will be able
to purchase DTT equipment and check the efficiency of the installation
(including aerials) in advance of DSO in their region before any
analogue services are switched off.
— However, the four million households
who will be in coverage after DSO but are not in coverage now
will not be able to test DTT reception equipment in advance of
the start of the DSO process in their region. Although it should
be possible to identify and resolve many aerial issues in advance,
eg via the on-screen indicator.
— Therefore, at an early stage in the
planning for DSO the broadcasters agreed that there should be
a phased transition from analogue to post DSO digital transmissions
and that one analogue channel should be switched off in advance
of the others. Thereby providing a "transition period"
during which households able to receive DTT for the first time
will be able to check their reception equipment and aerials (if
necessary). Note that each analogue channel is expected to display
an on-screen ticker prior to its switchover.
— The question then was to decide how
long the transition period should be between the switch off of
the first analogue channel and the remainder.
ANALYSIS AND
CONCLUSIONS
— Broadcasters and Transmission Providers
(Arqiva and NGW) undertook a detailed risk analysis of channel
transition periods of one month, three months and six months.
— The conclusion was that adoption
of a three month or six month period would mean that:
(i) Switchover could not be completed
by 2012 even with the allocation of additional resources; and
(ii) Higher levels of resources (people
and equipment) would be required.
— It was concluded therefore that in
order to meet the 2012 deadline and in order to contain costs
the working assumption should be a channel transition period of
up to one month.
— On that basis, the BBC agreed that
the analogue BBC2 service should be switched off in advance of
the other analogue channels. Analogue BBC2 would be replaced instantaneously
with the high power BBC multiplex carrying, inter alia,
the digital transmission of BBC2.
— Therefore, all households with DTT
equipment in the post DSO PSB coverage area will not lose any
services. Those without DTT equipment will not be able to access
BBC2 once the analogue transmissions cease. Those households will
have a one month period to obtain and install the equipment before
the other analogue channels are switched off.
COMPARISONS WITH
BERLIN
— At the CMS Select Committee hearing
it was suggested that UK should follow the example of Berlin and
allow a six month channel transition period.
— However, there are a number of reasons
why the Berlin and UK positions are significantly different, including:
(i) The UK has been simulcasting DTT
to 73% of households since 1998, and so households will have had
a minimum of 10 years to adopt DTT (six years from the launch
of Freeview in 2002) if they so choose. Berlin, by comparison,
had no period of simulcasting both analogue and digital services
in full. Instead, The process worked in three stages: (i) two
digital terrestrial channels were switched on for four months
(to demonstrate the service); (ii) the commercial analogue terrestrial
channels were then switched off and the public service terrestrial
channels turned to low power and a six month period followed;
(iii) and the public service channels then switched off entirely.
DTT was therefore only launched four months prior to the start
of switch-off, and so a six month intermission between the first
and last analogue channels being switched off was deemed necessary
(although in later regions this was reduced to three months).
(ii) UK households will have a minimum
of three years notice of the DSO process, as Digital UK has committed
to begin communications in each region three years before the
local switchover date. Berlin was only told of switchover at the
start of the first phase, six months before switchover began;
and communications were limited to letters and TV adverts and
tickers. In the UK a broader mix of media, including press, radio
and posters will be used to raise awareness well in advance of
switchover.
(iii) 83% of UK households can obtain,
install and operate DTT reception equipment now if they choose
and certainly well before the first analogue channel is switched
off in their region. This was not an option in Berlin.
(iv) The supply chain has several years
to gear up for the demand for equipment in each region. The supply
issues in Berlin resulted from the short period between digital
terrestrial launch and analogue.terrestrial switch-off of just
10 months.
SUMMARY
— A one month channel transition period
has been adopted as the working assumption because any significantly
longer period would increase costs and prevent achievement of
DSO by the 2012 deadline.
— The UK situation is distinctly different
to Berlin.
— One of the challenges for Digital
UK is to ensure that its communications to viewers equip them
to take the necessary actions in advance of BBC2 analogue switch
off so that any remaining issues during the one month transition
period are manageable.
January 2006
|
|
