Zeinal Bava presents Digital Television for All
Monday, April 28, 2008
Portugal Telecom has made a public presentation of its project for the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) tender, on 24 April in Lisbon. This candidacy offers a high technical quality and the best conditions for DTT development. PT assumes thus the commitment of providing all the Portuguese population with a new television experience
The afternoon of 24 April was marked by the presentation, in a press conference, of the contents within Portugal Telecom’s proposals, as presented to ANACOM in the scope of the DTT tender. The presented proposals reflect a convergence strategy of its television offer, initiated with MEO products.
It should be remembered that there are licenses at stake in both the Multiplexer (Mux) A tender (transmission of channels in open signal), in which PT is the only tenderer, and Multiplexers (Mux) B to F (channels subject to subscription) in which, besides PT, Swedish AirPlus TV is the other tenderer.
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Zeinal Bava presents
DTT as Digital TV
for All | PT’s proposal is ambitious and holds benefits for users as well as a positive impact on Society at large. DTT shall enable info-exclusion decrease, Information Society development, enterprise fabric renewal as well as technological know-how transfer.
Although Portugal enters DTT with a delay in relation to the rest of Europe, “Portugal Telecom’s proposal places us at the frontline of Europe. We shall appear as one of the most developed countries in this matter” stated Zeinal Bava, PT’s CEO.
In its application, PT proposes a wide 100% coverage for the open channels and 87% for the pay-TV ones, above tender requirements, together with an implementation before the Anacom imposed deadline (18 months for both Mux A and Muxes B to F). PT also proposes a set of differentiating technical solutions that allow a more efficient use of the scarce resources. The application is also based on a widened quality content offer (five open signal channels and up to 49 Pay-TV channels - three high-definition channels, three channels in Portuguese language and space reserved for two regional channels), as well as DTT massification (creation of a DTT promotion Forum and equipment subsidization policies).
PT’s application, with more than 14,000 pages, results from a continuous work, developed in six months’ time, by both PT employees and partners. It is a high quality proposal, in all its dimensions. According to Zeinal Bava, Portugal Telecom’s CEO: “PT presents solutions with high technical quality and assures the best technical conditions for Digital Terrestrial Television development”.
The fact that DTT is a digital technology more advanced than the traditional one allows providing users with a series of advantages over analogue terrestrial broadcasting. It enables the provision of more channels, the creation of regional channels, better of sound and image quality as well as advanced television functionalities. DTT also allows the improvement of the televising experience for people with special needs.
By presenting this proposal, PT assumes its commitment in providing all the Portuguese population with a new television experience, with more contents, image quality and innovative functionalities. For PT, DTT does not mean Digital Terrestrial Television but “Digital Television for All”.
DTT advantages
- DTT provides users with a series of advantages relatively to the analogue terrestrial broadcasting;
- DTT allows more channels, by providing a 5th national channel as well as a high-definition channel, within DTT’s cost-free offer and between 15 up to 20 national channels, and 35 up to 45 regional channels, in its subscription version;
- It facilitates the creation of regional channels, satisfying a still unfulfilled need for more local contents, of greater interest for the respective populations;
The quality of sound and image of the DTT broadcasting is very superior to the current analogue broadcasting, due to the digital nature of the signal;
- DTT allows advanced television functionalities, such as for example electronic programming guides (EPG), advanced information services, or access to films and other contents outside normal programming (Pay-per-view);
- It provides a significant improvement of the television experience for people with special needs, as it allows adding Portuguese subtitles to the transmitted contents (i.e. for the hearing impaired), as well as an audio-description service (i.e., for the illiterate population and for people with serious visual impairment).
What is DTT?
DTT - digital terrestrial television - is a new terrestrial broadcasting technology (via antennas) using a digital signal that will replace the current analogue terrestrial broadcasting (“traditional” television). This digital signal allows the emission of several channels simultaneously in the same frequency, previously reserved for a single channel, enabling the use of a larger number of frequencies in the same range of the radio spectrum.
DTT allows a more efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum, the reason why the European Commission has determined that this technology should be introduced in all the countries of the Union, having establishing a deadline (up to 2012) to switch off the current analogue transmission, seeking the use of the freed spectrum for other communications services, such as for example Mobile TV and Pay-TV.
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