Philippine Star: GMA Network cautions NTC about digital TV technology

Like the title says itself, GMA Network is very eager to push through the DVB-T2 standard for the digital terrestrial TV broadcast. Just like ABS-CBN which also has the hybrid set-up posted last week, GMA also housed Japanese and European-based DTV networks in their facility.

And they just admonished the National Telecommunications Commission, the regulatory body working out for the digital TV broadcast, to "go slow" with the finalization and implementation of digital TV in the Philippines.

Read the article after the break.

MANILA, Philippines -  GMA Network is urging the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to carefully consider what digital television transmission technology to adopt and when to require its adoption by local broadcasting companies due to the far-reaching repercussions of a bad choice.

In an interview, GMA chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon also revealed they expect higher revenues this year compared to last year. The company has also budgeted P750 million for capital expenditures this year.

Gozon said he expects the 2015 deadline for the shift by local broadcasting companies from analog to digital transmission to be pushed back since the review by the NTC and other government agencies is still ongoing.

The NTC earlier revealed that it may support the adoption of the Japanese digital technology instead of its European counterpart, but has yet to come up with the rules governing digital technology.

Gozon earlier said that while the network that they have installed can support either the Japanese or European version, he said the NTC should choose only the best standard. “Once you choose the standard, it is very difficult to change,” he pointed out.

He also advised the NTC to go slow on digitization, noting that even countries like the United States took a long time before mandating a complete shift from analog to digital considering the huge expenses that broadcasting companies will have to shell out. “It’s a very expensive proposition because even the television sets will have to be digital ready. And how many Filipinos can afford digital-ready TV sets,” he said.

The US government originally set a 1996 deadline for digitization, but it was only 10 years later that the move finally pushed through.

“We have to choose the best, the better of these standards…because that’s a long term decision that will affect not only the present but the future operation.

And secondly, it’s the readiness of the public, even if we are ready and the viewers are not yet ready, so we have balance and calibrate everything,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said their April revenues are good, “but May is really fantastic.” “We are over P1 billion in TV sales for Channel 7 alone so far, and this is not even an election year,” Gozon added.

He explained that GMA’s revenues suffered a setback last year due to the increase in advertising rates by the network. “We had to increase the rates. The advertisers reacted. Everytime you increase the prices, that’s the reaction. But they came back to us,” he said. - Mary Ann L. Reyes, dated 19 May 2011, 12:00 AM

Source: Philippine Star

Business World: NTC to finalize digital TV broadcast standard by June

Well it is for the NTC to decide which digital TV standard is going to suit the needs of every Filipino viewer, expect the rules to set on the end of June 2011.

THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) hopes to finalize by end-June a review on which digital television standard to adopt, its top official said yesterday.

"The review is ongoing and we’re hoping to complete it in one and a half months from today," Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba said in a telephone interview.

In June last year, NTC, following unanimous industry support, decided to adopt the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) standard as the country’s digital television platform over the European Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) technology.

However, in March this year, the House Committee on Information and Communication Technology encouraged a review of which standard to adopt, since the upgraded European standard (DVB-2) was not considered last year.

"So the outcome will be either we stick to the Japanese standard or we will adopt the new European standard," Mr. Cordoba said.

Despite admitting a "slow rate" in the country’s shift to digital TV, GMA Network, Inc. supports the review of which standard to adopt, Felipe L. Gozon, chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters yesterday.

"Yes, [we support the review] because we only want the best standard [for the country]...that’s a long-term decision that will affect not only the present but the future operation," he said after his firm’s annual stockholders meeting.

"[The shift to digital TV] is very slow [but] even in the US and in other countries, it took them some time before they were able to convert," Mr. Gozon said.

Mr. Gozon said that the firm is waiting for NTC’s decision on which standard to adopt as the broadcaster cannot, at present, roll out plans without it.

Already, the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the country’s switch to digital television is eyed to be finished within the month, or next month at the latest, Mr. Cordoba said.

The government is aiming to complete the shift to digital TV by 2015.

After NTC issues the IRR and decides on which digital TV standard to adopt, broadcasting firms can start rolling out the digital signals alongside analog signals.

The 2015 target, however, may be moved as deemed by the broadcasting firms and consumers, Mr. Cordoba said.

"We could say that it is a moving target. The shift to digital TV will require a lot of investments from firms and it will also depend on how fast the public can adopt," Mr. Cordoba said.

The decision last year to adopt the ISDB-T standard was reached in a meeting of stakeholders from the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, GMA Network , ABS-CBN Corp., RPN Channel 9, and Vanguard Radio Network Co., Inc., among others.

In June last year, representatives from the Japanese embassy and NTC officials signed a memorandum of cooperation. Japanese makers of the set-top boxes required for non-digital TV sets were said to have committed to build a manufacturing plant in the Philippines to help cut prices.

Aside from Japan, the ISDB-T has been widely adopted in South America.

In 2006, the industry regulator released a memorandum saying the country would be using the European standard DVB for digital television.

The NTC later deferred this, saying more consultations were needed. - Kathleen A. Martin, dated 18 May 2011, 10:31 PM

Source: Business World

Manila Standard Today: Digital TV shift reviewed

Here is a piece of news relayed by the Manila Standard on NTC's stand to review the chosen digital TV standard for the country. As far from now, the National Telecommunications Commission stands for what the unanimous decision has been decided, which is the Japanese Integrated Standard for Digital Broadcast or ISDB-T, and been working out for the rules and regulations that will be implemented throughout the start of the digital TV broadcast age in the next few months.

On the contrary, GMA Network still pushes through the newer generation of DVB-T, the T2 standard, which is mostly the best digital TV standard of the world.

Read the article in the following break.

The National Telecommunications Commission is reviewing the platform that will be used for the country’s transition into digital TV after Europe proposed a newer standard claiming to be better than the Japanese technology.

NTC deputy commissioner Carlo Juan Martinez told Manila Standard in a chance interview that Malacañang has ordered the regulator to consider the newer version of European’s digital video broadcasting technology.

“We are reviewing DVB-T2 simultaneously with the drafting of digital TV rules [under a Japanese platform],” he said.

The NTC in June last year issued a circular adopting Japan’s integrated services digital broadcasting technology as the Philippines’ official digital TV platform.

Martinez said it was likely that NTC would delay the rules because the team reviewing DVB-T2 was part of the technical working group drafting the digital TV regulations on the use of the Japanese platform.

“It is possible that both the issuance of rules and its implementation will be delayed. But we are hoping not since the review will not take a long time,” he said.

He added it was also possible that the chosen standards would be revised, depending on the outcome of the review.

“The DVB-T2 is still more expensive than the Japanese standard so there is a slim chance that the platform will be changed. It is still a possibility,” Martinez added.

The rules are scheduled for release next month while the transition is expected to start in January next year. However, NTC said it was extending the 2015 deadline to completely shut off analog TVs.

There was no formal agreement signed yet between the government of Japan and the Philippines officially designating the latter’s platform as the country’s digital TV technology.

The NTC said the government was still negotiating with the Japanese government to include soft loans for private broadcasters for the acquisition of necessary equipment for the analog TV shutoff.

The National Broadcasting Network, owned and operated by the government, received early this year a $4-million equipment grant from Japan, which will allow the TV network to easily shift from analog to Japanese digital TV technology. - Jeremiah F. de Guzman, dated 17 May, 2011.

Source: Manila Standard Today

How will ABS-CBN play the digital terrestrial world in the coming days?

Okay, you’ve heard the largest TV network in the Philippines revolutionizing the digital terrestrial TV this coming few months; we’re going to tackle all the possibilities of the network may pursue into.

Market. So, broadcast industry is a big market, from advertisers, to viewers, etc. As a broadcast conglomerate, they may take in the first place the content being show in the market. What they gonna do with this is to have their own premium channels, for sure.

Conditional access system is a system wherein a what-they-call a “smart card” is inserted onto receivers to be granted an access with those scrambled channels. One of the finest cable companies in the country, Sky Cable, is using this kind of system for digital cable, which they can program each card to function whether the so-called Digibox would recognize the card and access only those channels which the subscriber has bought.

And how about the free TV? CAS may potentially be used by ABS-CBN; having their premium channels offered for the first time, which they tagged “ONLY” for their digital TV broadcast (does this mean they will not abide the NTC’s popular “must-carry” rule or what?). They mean five, as in five digital TV premium channels for the family; one for mom, one for dad, another for the grown-up, and two for the kids (which one of them is Knowledge Channel, for sure).

Yes, they’re going to sell those decoder/set-top boxes for digital free TV, soon. In fact, we’re looking forward into that scenario of those ABS-CBN DTV Digiboxes having smart cards or any encryption system or whatsoever. Still, the Implementing Rules and Regulation body has the final word for those premium channels being catered by the networks going digital. Would this create a new TV network war in the future? Let the time machine tell.

Mobility. ABS-CBN Head Mr. Miguel Mercado was once asked during our interview in the ABS-CBN News Channel’s Future Perfect about going mobile. Actually, this one was the very most questionable for the network whether they’re also providing 1-seg signals throughout their DTV transition, as if most of the people who have the guts to scan those digital channels for now have their own 1-seg tuners from mobile phones from Japan, to those of USB-powered TV tuners.

1-seg capability of ISDB-T is one feature in which the transmission side can offer mobile services from portable to handheld devices in one system. During those DTV issues, the European DVB-T offers no mobile transmission of TV signals, instead, they require another standard, which is DVB-H, made for “H-handheld”. 1-seg quality is very robust, since it uses, technically speaking, QPSK modulation, which gives lower bitrate and bandwidth but easy to receive even in those places which are heavily-shielded.

This mobile TV standard originated in Japan, boosted numbers of mobile TV subscribers since it was launched years ago. Japanese people, being mobile most of the time, well-loved 1-seg very much, as well as other features of ISDB-T. From mobile phones, to USB TV tuners, portable TV devices, and even PlayStation Portable (PSP) TV tuners are sold within Japan’s territory, in support with their digital TV migration in the coming months (24 July, 2011).

Filipinos, on the contrary, are ready to switch themselves being mobile nowadays, since mobile phones capable of high-speed Internet and other multimedia applications are now being sold into commercial markets. Those high-end gadgets still do not have television tuners, since manufacturers of those phones have a different digital TV standard to be used (to mention US and Korea use ATSC and the whole Europe goes DVB-T/H and DVB-T2). What you’ll see are those tagged as KIRF (Keepin’ It Real Fake) China phone brands do have TV tuners, which still offered in analog TV quality.

Moreover, buses running on speedy roads sometimes tune in to television networks. Most of the time, rival GMA Network is the very most tuned TV network among buses in the Metro, since they have the technical capabilities of being received by TV sets even in running automobiles.

Okay, so back in the conversation with Mr. Mercado, we asked if ABS also aims to go mobile with 1-seg for us to share the beauty of mobile TV within phone, but he reminded us with the hated word “Soon”. “The network prioritize the viewers with fixed TV sets first, but we’re also in the way of going mobile”. That answer was very simple, yet complicated to analyse. Still, ABS-CBN is in the market of selling everything to the people, and hey! They’re in the business scene, so expect that. Most of the TV viewers are at home, rather than those WWWTV (Walking While Watching TV); presume that the network focuses on them at lead.

Technicalities. ISDB-T standard is based on band segmentation, where 13 segments are allocated for the 6-megahertz TV bandwidth of a network. Sounds quirky?

As far as we know, Philippines will be using the hybrid standard of ISDB-T of Japan and the SBTVD-T standard of Brazil. With the Brazilian flavour, our country will be utilizing the MPEG-4 AVC video standard, with AAC as its audio correspondence. With these standards, our digital TV system will utilize the spectrum in the most efficient way the broadcasters can transmit in digital. Having a maximum numbers of 2 high definition, 8 standard definition and a 1-seg system, TV network can mix-and-match those to offer the viewers’ more than they expect to.

On their previous launch, the network is planned to release ABS-CBN, Studio 23 and new 5 disgusting premium DTV channels in their bouquet, so with the DTV Digibox that comes with a special card for the special channels. Doing the math, ABS is targeted to have 7 channels, for sure in Standard Definition (SD) quality (since the last time I talked to sources is, ABS-CBN getting ready for high definition TV, but not today).

Not today, then the possibility of having CAS, ABS-CBN is mostly seen to use two separate frequencies for digital TV. Previously, ABS-CBN holds the Channel 50 and 51 on the UHF band with their test on the defunct DVB-T. It is much quite impossible to place those seven channels in one frequency, having those five labelled as premium. And to think of having ABS-CBN and Studio 23 into one frequency, they can go HD soon as they have the full contents being in high definition. Remember, most of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs shows, and even primetime soap operas are in high definition downscaled-to-analog-TV broadcast; they’re much even ready for it for the next three to five years, as soon as the receiving public is also ready too.

Demand. “Rigodon” in Philippine TV just happened this early 2011, as GMA Network and TV5 unveiled their own news and information channels on free TV, par with the ABS-CBN News Channel’s reign for 15 years in the coax. With this, ABS-CBN is expected to have its own news channel soon in the airwaves too, via DTV.

To satisfy the needs of the demand of the people, ABS-CBN should matter into what it is happening now. Okay, so we got Aksyon TV and GMA News TV on the limelight. The latter, was rated for its one-of-a-kind simulcasts of important events in the past few days, made ABS-CBN rang its bell to create something special.

With their offering, five premium channels are expected to be seen on the boob-tube soon. Touted one for each family member, we believe ABS-CBN is in the good works for this. For a scoop, the network is slated to release the following. For dads, it will going to be a news channel, for sure it’s not ANC, because of it’s also being premium on Sky Cable’s line-up, and again people, don’t expect it to be ANC, please. Well, DZMM Teleradyo’s one, too.

For the youth and kids, with a total of three, one is Knowledge Channel from CPI, two of them would be an anime TV network pitted against its own Hero TV in the cable and another clueless, maybe Myx. And for moms, they can have somewhat like TV Chefs, or Velvet, or Lifestyle.

ABS is planning for something new, something again to push through in the works. Also in the conversation with Mr. Mercado, they are in the plan to have those five, new channels, which are not yet seen by any people on TV (Err, is it extraordinary or what?). But since Knowledge Channel expressed its part to be one of those five, maybe the remaining four will be new. Again, the demand of the people should be criticized and be not left out for them to succeed with it.

Competition. The most liked topic by a network-war veteran. With the current system, ABS almost slapped by its major competitor due to some specific issues mattered for a TV broadcast. Garnering 16 years of leading from its revitalization on the late 80’s, ABS-CBN loses the crown being number one for some reasons.

Content-wise, yes. But now ABS-CBN continues to serve people with those originals rather than canned ones. And also don’t expect it to be tackled most here, okay? Tech-blabbering, ABS-CBN’s frequency houses the lowest among TV bandwidth on 54 MHz With their introduction of their Millennium Transmitter on the year that can be read between the lines, ABS’s spot still under the campfire. Remember, GMA’s Tower of Power reminds us the word “Power” at almost 800 feet high now, being at high-band VHF on 174 MHz, no doubt GMA would capture the hearts of the television sets, even only a strip of wire being connected as a cute TV antenna.

The network also ventured into having the Baron antenna into the market, which is very suited for ABS’ reception, but still, the network failed to top again with the technology they introduced. People are still clamouring for the clear and crisp signal before.

The technology word goes into the year 2006 for digital TV broadcast; ABS-CBN was the very first TV network to try. They’re in the midst of having a lighted bulb onto their minds while telling themselves “Ah! We’ve got the ultimate solution!” Along with the NTC’s first draft of having a digital TV standard, ABS-CBN uses DVB-T, along with GEMNET, who dared to switch off its analog channel to be used for DTV.

So much for the history, the competition we’re talking here is almost four-squared. Okay so we’ve got their own box. On the press release, the box also receives those of other channels’ digital TV signals over-the-air with NBN and GEM TV. Don’t dare play dirty with not receiving GMA, TV5 and other channels going digital next. But ABS assures, they’re in the track of NTC’s “must-carry”.

What’s dirty is the CAS. Will it be unified for all TV networks or separately being propounded by each networks’ standard of smart cards? The thing is, “I have my own box with no smart card insertion; will I receive those premium channels of yours?” Definitely, no. Then what if other networks also offer their own DTV boxes, too? Sounds complicated in the pocket, isn’t it?

Positively speaking, TV content (back in the topic) is now being neglected on digital free TV, since the qualities of channel now depends on the modulation scheme and the bitrate it transmits on free air. What’s important is the reception should not be staggered, as for DTV would have a “with-signal, no-signal” degradation; TV networks may compete with the best transmission solutions and antenna system designs and positions for them to have a better coverage of people watching them digitally.

 Note: The views and opinions of Admin-1 do not reflect the whole DTV Pilipinas.