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Technical Review | January-March 2012
The decisions of the WRC-12 Conference on Spectrum issues were not as unfavourable for broadcasting services as had been expected. However, there was a clear message from the conference. The message was that the pressure on the UHF band would keep on increasing further and would be likely to result in a negative impact on the operation of existing services, as well as the future development of broadcasting services in the band.
The fact that valuable spectrum (694 to 790 MHz) was actually allocated to mobile services (including broadband mobile), in European and African countries, is quite a significant milestone. Many broadcasters believe that such mobile services cannot co-exist with TV broadcasting simply because of the potential for harmful interference in the reception of TV services. This may, therefore, mark the last chance for the broadcasters to articulate their views in this regard.
If there was a single message to come out of the ABU DB Symposium, it was that the time is opportune for broadcasters to take important decisions on the implementation of the new technologies, thereby creating platforms for providing new services to their customers. The industry representatives clearly declared that the industry is well geared for playing its role in the implementation process. Another important message was that broadcasters needed to address all four screens now used by audiences for consumption of multimedia content.
There was increased emphasis on the deployment of green technologies and possibly upgrading some of the older ones, towards becoming greener and more power efficient. There are now instances of transmission facilities being totally operated by solar or wind power, or a combination of the two.
The quest for green technologies has triggered frenetic research into higher efficiency in the operation of the broadcasting equipment, be it studio monitors and lighting fixtures or low and high power transmitters. Proponents of the green technologies underline the fact that investments in green technologies are always recovered through savings in operational costs.
Whilst the provision of multimedia products via the internet has been going on for some time, the industry is certainly abuzz with OTT (‘Over- The-Top’ – refers to the delivery of video and audio, via the internet, directly to user connected devices). Current technologies have improved the flow of multimedia products on the public internet and many of us can now experience smoother streaming of audio-video content than ever before.
The question is whether broadcasters, with their vast content resources, are making optimum use of OTT in carrying their products to the audiences. If this is done in a productive manner, experts in the industry see a significant proportion of OTT revenue going to the broadcasters.
ABU sets up Green Broadcast Engineering Award
The 2011 ABU Technical Committee decided to set up the ABU Green Broadcast Engineering Award was set up. This award will be conferred on those who have made engineering contributions of an outstanding nature in developing, implementing and / or promoting green technology in the broadcasting industry in the Asia-Pacific region. This award shall be open to distinguished personalities and organisations in all segments of the broadcasting industry, including the staff or former staff of ABU members and ABU affiliate members within the ABU region.
The Guidelines for the Green Broadcasting Award have been circulated among the members and our industry partners. A sponsor for the award has been finalised. A panel of judges has also been set up. The first such award will be given out at the next TC2012.
The sponsor of the award is KOBA, Republic of Korea. The award carries a cash prize of USD 2000.00 and a trophy.
From Sharad, Nadeem, Bahadir, Kyaw Zaw, Geraldine, Hamidah and Ramlah
Outlook
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