Reading the BBC’s response to Ofcom’s Digital Dividend Review (effectively determining what happens to all that bandwidth currently used by analogue TV once it’s switched off between 2008 and 2012), it’s notable that radio and television in this country are facing the same issues – encoding technology.
Currently DAB uses MPEG-2 technology, as does Freeview. The technology works fine, but things move on and MPEG-4 is closer to the cutting edge these days. Essentially, it’s a more efficient codec meaning that more channels can be squeezed into the same radio spectrum.
In radio, there’s now DAB+ which is being adopted by Australia, and being eyed-up eagerly by other countries. DAB+ is based on the AAC+ codec – part of MPEG-4. In theory it’s great because more services at higher bandwidths can be offered; in a DAB+ world, we might hope to see the end of mono music services like the recently launched theJazz. But the downside is that all current DAB sets would be rendered useless if we were to switch to it overnight. There are something approaching five million DAB sets in the UK market – so making then redundant is not something you want to do in haste.
Meanwhile with TV, Freeview is well esconced and reaches nearly the same number of households as market leader Sky. The free to air digital terrestrial television (DTT) service it offers is a key plank in the digital switchover which begins in October in Whitehaven and then continues apace region by region until 2012. However recently, Sky’s thrown a spanner in the works and has announced (although it hasn’t actually formally asked the regulator Ofcom) that it’s going to pull it’s three free-to-air Freeview channels and replace them with four subscription channels that’ll be encoded using MPEG-4 technology. Again, this renders current Freeview/DTT set-top boxes and television partially redundant.
However the BBC, in it’s submission to Ofcom, talks about using MPEG-4 compression to provide a free-to-air HD service – essentially an HD version of Freeview. The feeling is that unless Ofcom allows this, the only way British viewers will be able to receive HD services will be via paid-for Sky or cable subscriptions (It’s possible that like the BBC’s much delayed “Freesat” proposal, a “FreeHDSat” could also be launched).
The key here is that there would be a perceived consumer benefit in adopting MPEG-4 as viewers would be able to watch HD programming. The upgrade for many existing “HD Ready” televisions could be simple since many sets now have a Common Interface (CI) slot into which an MPEG-4 upgrade module could be slotted.
However, it’s still another new box or device, adding possibly unnecessary viewer confusion, coming a relatively short time after the last major upgrade.
So with both radio and television face probably upgrades. But will they end there? There are undoubtedly going to be improvements in compression algorithms and improved delivery mechanisms. Quite possibly, we’ll move away from a broadcasting mechanism that relies on large masts being placed on big hills sending signals to aerials on our roofs, but it’s a relatively simple system that works well.
It might be that the future will be some kind of WiMax type transmission technology and that we’ll receive all our “data” the same way. We’re already watching and listening to programming on our timescales, and watching tonights Eastenders is going to be more like awaiting the “release date” of tonight’s Eastenders rather than sitting down with the rest of the population at 7.30pm. And then there are all those internet “channels” that are popping up everywhere – but while watching some Chinese kids miming to pop songs or whatever has its place in the entertainment fermament, I still like a big budget drama series too. YouTube does not mean the end for television networks.
In the meantime, confusion is likely to reign with the market probably determining the outcome rather than any regulatory forces.