BCI DTT Multiplex Licencing Policy Published

taung

Full details of the BCI's policy towards DTT Licencing was published yesterday and can be found here. DigiTAG have summarised it as follows;

Ireland - BCI publishes multiplex licensing policy

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has published its policy regarding the allocation of licenses for the operation of DTT multiplexes A, B and C.


These three multiplexes are reserved for commercial services while a fourth multiplex has been reserved for the public service broadcaster RTE.

The BCI has set out the following licensing requirements:
- 90% minimum coverage,
- use of the MPEG-4 AVC compression format,
- use of MHEG-5,
- 80% minimum of television programme content and programme related content, and,
- availability of access services

The BCI remains flexible regarding the business model to be adopted although DTT receivers must be able to receive the free-to-air services offered by RTE.

Mossy Monk

So unless you have an MPEG-4 receiver you are screwed.

bk

- use of the MPEG-4 AVC compression format,
- use of MHEG-5,

Well these two items are good news, yes it means that Freeview boxes won't work with this service, but by the time it is officially rolled out in Ireland MPEG-4 AVC boxes will be just as cheap and I wouldn't be surprised if the UK starts moving over to it also by then.

It will mean either more channels or better quality (or a mixture of both) then is possible on Freeview

Zaphod

So these requirements would apply only to commercials muxes? Meaning that RTÉ could still end up using MPEG2 on their mux?

[edit] I've just glanced through the doc, and I thought it looked familiar. scath had already posted a link to it here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055035165&highlight=BCI%2A&page=4

I can't see how DigiTAG can state "use of the MPEG-4 AVC compression format" as a licensing requirement. The doc has the just the following:

The Commission is stipulating that the MPEG 4 HD compression format forms part of the
minimum specification for DTT receivers.

So the 'official' receivers will have to be MPEG4 capable, but the transmissions could all still be MPEG2.

taung

I agree with Zaphod, the MPEG-4 "minimum requirement" is just one part of the full set of minimum requirements. And, the minimum requirements haven't even been defined yet.

SPDUB

bk wrote: »

it is officially rolled out in Ireland MPEG-4 AVC boxes will be just as cheap

Can I have a lend of your time machine ?

I want to get the lottery numbers.

bk

SPDUB wrote: »

Can I have a lend of your time machine ?

I want to get the lottery numbers.

You don't need a time machine, this happens to most new technology after it is launched. As more and more countries like France for instance http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055248885 also pick it, it will become increasingly commoditised and will quickly drop in price.

SPDUB

bk wrote: »

You don't need a time machine, this happens to most new technology after it is launched. As more and more countries like France for instance http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055248885 also pick it, it will become increasingly commoditised and will quickly drop in price.

In other words you hope it will drop in price and even you admit it doesn't happen to all new technology

You have no proof it will drop in price .

Mossy Monk

Of course it will drop in price.

TheDriver

90% by analogue switch off is a long time away! Wonder when things will actually be in place and working

watty

Still for pay TV it makes sense to have twice the channels for investment in
Licence
backhaul/feed
Aerials
Transmitter
Modulator

All identical for MPEG2 or MPEG4, no matter how many channels there are.

MPEG2 = 5 good quality channels
MPEG4 = 10 Good quality channels and slip in maybe 1 more reduced quality.

BowWow

Sunday Business Post

Consortiums lining up for DTT licences

09 March 2008 By Catherine O’Mahony

One consortium could conceivably end up controlling all three of the national multiplexes that will stream digital terrestrial television (DTT) into homes currently relying on analogue signals, according to the licensing plans issued last Friday by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI).
Applicants have until May 2 to file applications to operate one or more of the multiplexes. Public hearings have been set for May 12. Applicants will have the right to apply for as many multiplexes as they wish and even to specify that their applications will be withdrawn unless they get at least two, or three, of the contracts.
The BCI is approaching the licensing process for DTT in a radically different manner to the way it organises radio licensing. While issues of media concentration will be considered when assessing applications, it said its priority was to ensure all the prospective DTT multiplexes could function coherently and in an integrated manner.
It is also organising the application process differently. At the oral hearings, for instance, applicants will not be quizzed, but simply asked to make presentations. This emphasis on cohesiveness means that RTE, which already has the public service multiplex to supply free-to-air content, could, in theory, take the lead on all four licences.
Its commercial rivals are concerned about this and UPC Ireland has already filed a complaint with the European Commission, expressing concern about RTE’s strategy. Content providers, channel operators and platform operators have all been in talks for months about how to proceed with DTT.
Participants in these talks are understood to have included all the TV operators, some radio broadcasters, BT, Eircom, UPC Ireland and Sky. But the BCI said it expected fewer than ten applications in total for the three licences.
‘‘Consortiums will be formed,” said one interested party. ‘‘Everyone’s talking to everyone. This is no small undertaking - we’re talking costs of €30million to €40million to set up one of these systems. It’s pretty unlikely that we’d see a television company, for instance, making a bid on its own.”
Present at last week’s BCI media briefing on DTT were representatives of Communicorp and TV3. However, TV3 chief executive David McRedmond was non-committal about his intentions. ‘‘I can’t rule anything in or out at this stage,” he said. ‘‘Our principal interest is as a content provider, rather than a platform provider. But we’re interested.”
It is unclear at this point exactly when analogue services will be switched off in Ireland. There is a target of 2012, but BCI chief executive Michael O’Keeffe raised the possibility of a delay until as late as 2015.
‘‘It’s a matter for the department,” he said. The BCI advised that consumers who were keen to take advantage of DTT should exercise caution when it came to investing in new technologies at this point. DTT will enter homes via set top boxes to begin with, but televisions will - at some point - become available that incorporate DTT receivers.
It’s also not clear at present how much use will be made of high definition TV (HDTV) in DTT.
With HDTV, each multiplex could offer six to eight channels. However, with regular television, up to 12 channels are possible.

byte

Hmm, interesting.

I'd be nice if there were more than one free multiplex. As has been said already, the amount of free content is what made UK's Freeview the success it became - unlike in its ITV Digital/ONdigital era.

Zaphod

Sunday Business Post
With HDTV, each multiplex could offer six to eight channels.

:eek:

Mossy Monk

The SBP don't have a clue if they are printing that rubbish

Zaphod

Mr. Cathal Goan: I cannot give a definitive answer regarding the cost per household because technology, such as digital compression techniques, is changing as we speak. The technique used in the UK to date is being superseded by one that allows a greater number of channels to be carried in multiplexes. As RTE and the other agents have not decided on the ideal set-top box, a price and the technical standard have not been agreed. The BCI has identified a number of desiderata for set-top boxes and compression standards, all of which must be signed off on by the groups. It is RTE’s opinion that anything costing more than €100 or that would not allow for the inevitable advent of high-definition television would be a bad idea. We would like to advance a position in which people must make only one purchase that would see them through all of the possibilities of the move into digital television.

Mr. Conor Hayes: Mr. Cathal Goan referred to the boxes. When the BCI publishes its license conditions, it will set out conditions of the minimum technical characteristics of each box. Until that is published we cannot say more. We have an aspiration for compression standards, MPEG-4, of which the current standard is MPEG-2. We know that high definition is coming down the tracks and we would like a box that is capable of receiving a high definition signal and outputting it in both high and standard definition. Not everyone can afford high definition televisions but we do not want to simulcast programmes in high definition and standard definition because the cost of transmission would make the system uncompetitive with other platforms. It would make it prohibitive, especially for poorer people who are dependent on our free to air network. Making sure the project is economic is not a matter of profit; it involves designing it in a cost effective way, with components made in an efficient way and representing an attractive offering to people. This is part of our interest in commercial multiplexes.

Mr. Conor Hayes: We will seek to include USB ports on set top boxes to make them broadband enabled. That will allow for a degree of convergence between broadband and digital terrestrial television.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=MAJ20080227.XML&Node=H3#H3

byte

WRT the last Conor Hayes quote:
USB ports to make them broadband enabled? I'd have thought an Ethernet port would be better for that job.

I suppose a standalone USB device woudl do that purpose too, for those that want it. With the box having internet, I would imagine that the box will have some sort of web browsing software...

watty

Oh dear...

USB will let you connect extra disk or play camera pictures on TV, not Internet.

HD:
A mux is less than 29Mbps.
HD needs 5 times the data of decent SD. You'd get 3 HD channels, max, otherwise don't bother and upscale decent SD channels.

BluRay disks (using MPEG4 AVC H.264) peak at 22mbps. BBC HD peaks at 18Mbps, may run around 9 Mbps average.

Oh dear oh dear.

Slicklink

Oh dear indeed

In an ideal world the USB would serve as a Media player of some sort! The majority on the market (and on the market internationally) whilst included on the machine are not enabled.

But in reality manufacturers are including them as an option to upgrade firmware (in addition to the null modem serial port)