Future of terrestrial broadcasting in the UHF band?

The Cush

Over 150 governments at the WRC-15 conference have decided there should be no change to the remaining UHF band, that it should remain exclusive to broadcasting. The decision will not be reviewed until the 2023 conference and will not be on the WRC-19 agenda.

https://tech.ebu.ch/news/2015/11/broadcasters-applaud-wrc-15-deci
http://advanced-television.com/2015/11/26/ebu-welcomes-wrc-15-uhf-decision/

During the Nov. 26 session, representatives agreed that there would be no change to the allocation in the 470–694 MHz band now or at WRC-19 — in four years’ time. A review of the spectrum use in the entire UHF band (470-960 MHz) will next take place at the WRC in 2023

http://www.radioworld.com/article/broadcasters-welcome-wrc--decision/277607

The decision not to review the band until the next decade is in line with the recommendations of the EU commissioned Lamy Report back in 2014.

European broadcasters also welcome the fact that a vast majority of EU Member States supported the decision to maintain the lower UHF frequency band for terrestrial broadcasting. The WRC-15 decision will have a positive impact at EU level, affirming the direction proposed in the Lamy Report in 2014 that DTT should continue until at least 2030.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=92016782
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95934224

Gerry Wicklow

I love the twisted logic of removing TV channels so people can watch "tv" on their phones instead:rolleyes:

The Cush

The UK government announced yesterday in its Autumn Statement delivered by George Osborne, to allocate up to £550m to make the 700Mhz spectrum band available for mobile broadband use and this will be spent over the period of the next parliament, which runs until 2020.

This is approximately what Ofcom estimated it will cost to clear the 700 MHz band in its decision on the band last Nov - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93107475#post93107475

Sam Russell

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I love the twisted logic of removing TV channels so people can watch "tv" on their phones instead:rolleyes:

The logic is simple - going from FTA to Pay to view. You must pay for mobile in whatever way, but UHF TV is - in general - free.

Hotblack Desiato

Sam Russell wrote: »

The logic is simple - going from FTA to Pay to view. You must pay for mobile in whatever way, but UHF TV is - in general - free.

The huge sums raised by spectrum sales have to be paid for. This is really just a tax on the public, although it doesn't look like one.

Sam Russell

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The huge sums raised by spectrum sales have to be paid for. This is really just a tax on the public, although it doesn't look like one.

Well, yes. But within the EU there is always a push for privatisation in the pursuit of 'competition' except there is only competition between large multinational entities, and even this is allusion. For example, Sky compete with BT for sports rights, but it is not competition because if you want to watch a particular sports event, it will only be on one of them. If you want to watch, say, all of the PL soccer - even for just one team, you must subscribe to both. That is not competition.

The EU are trying to rid us of roaming charges but the Mobile companies are fighting it tooth and nail.

The Cush

Report from CEPT on WRC-15 which closed on Friday last. Preparations for WRC-19 started today with a 2 day meeting of the WRC-19 Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM19-1)

The Cush

Digitag & EBU post WRC-15 overviews

http://www.digitag.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DigiTAG-newsletter-10-2015.pdf
https://tech.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/tech/files/shared/factsheets/ebu-fs-WRC-15-results.pdf

The Cush

The European Commission, yesterday, published its proposals for the EU harmonisation of the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband use. The proposal will have to be approved by the European Parliament and Member States, under a co-decision procedure.

What's proposed
- 700 MHz band should be assigned to wireless broadband by 30 June 2020
- national plans for network coverage and for releasing this band by 30 June 2017
- cross-border coordination agreements by the end of 2017
- states can allow other technologies downlink-only transmission in the sub-700 MHz band
- review of the sub-700 MHz band by 2025

European Commission - Press release
European Commission - Fact Sheet

http://advanced-television.com/2016/02/03/ebu-concerned-at-ec-spectrum-proposals/

Separately, Comreg were before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications last week where mobile phone coverage was discussed, touching on the release of the 700 MHz band.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/500000-rural-mobile-users-to-get-better-signal-34408801.html

The Cush

The EBU has expressed its concerns at the EC's proposals for the UHF band.

The primary concern is the financial burden the proposals will place on broadcasters moving services from the 700 MHz band in a strict deadline of mid 2020. The EU commissioned Lamy Report had previously recommended a flexible 2020 +/- 2 years to clear the band.

The second concern is the proposal to allow states to authorise non-DTT transmission technologies in the sub-700 MHz. This proposal was not a requirement of the recent WRC-2015 conference and the EBU said the proposal should be carefully studied and tested so that it doesn't interfere with broadcasting.

https://tech.ebu.ch/news/2016/02/ebu-expresses-concern-at-europea

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2016/02/03/ebu-angered-over-commissions-early-700mhz-clearance-plans/
http://www.digitaltveurope.net/493162/ec-spectrum-plan-raises-alarm-at-ebu/

_John C

Our local transmitter transmits on Ch52 (722MHz) and Ch56 (754MHz). The majority of aerials in this area are group c/d (green dot).

Ouch!!!

The Cush

_John C wrote: »

Our local transmitter transmits on Ch52 (722MHz) and Ch56 (754MHz). The majority of aerials in this area are group c/d (green dot).

Ouch!!!

A revised UHF band plan to migrate DTT services below the 700 MHz band is expected to be completed in Q2 2016, bilaterally with the UK and multilaterally with other countries in this part of Europe.

Anybody guess what the new frequencies for say, Clermont Carn, will be?

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

Anybody guess what the new frequencies for say, Clermont Carn, will be?

No, waiting for the revised plan.

UK Ofcom document on the clearing out of the 700 Mhz band published today:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/maximising-benefits-700-MHz-clearance/summary/maximising-benefits-of-700MHz-clearance.pdf

Expect a flurry of Freeview retuning events from the end of 2017 onwards. The temporary COM 7 & 8 muxes look set to go by 2020.

http://www.a516digital.com/2016/03/freeview-changes-planned-from-end-of.html

The Cush

Ofcom has published a call for input on the clearance of the 700MHz band and a summary of progress to date.

The UK government is considering public funding for DTT and PMSE users who must clear the band and has tasked Ofcom to provide advice on this. Ofcom are seeking feedback from DTT viewers, consumer groups, wireless microphones owners as well as interested industry bodies.

On the progress front the document says the revised frequency plan for the main transmitters has been agreed (this would include Ireland) and work is now starting on the plan for the smaller transmitters.

Network infrastructure modifications are due to start later this year with retuning expected to start in 2018.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/700-clearance-cfi/

The Cush

In continental Europe the next 700MHz band auction, following the German and French auctions, is likely to be Sweden.

http://www.pts.se/sv/Dokument/Remisser/2015/Konsultation-tilldelning-av-700-MHz-bandet/

The plan is to start the auction in Dec with licences coming into force April 2017. In preparation for the release of spectrum work begins next week to migrate DTT out of the 700MHz band.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/teracom-starts-migrating-from-700-mhz-band--1136158

Proposed Winter Hill (NW England) new frequencies, after the retune prompted by the 700 Mhz clearance. Thinking of Three Rock, Clermont Carn etc in the Irish context. Helluva lot of group C/D aerials will need changing.



http://www.a516digital.com/2016/04/ofcom-seeks-input-on-freeview-changes.html

The question I have is, where does it end? Will the entire UHF band eventually be auctioned off and terrestrial TV will have to move back to band III or be scrapped entirely?

The Cush

Karsini wrote: »

The question I have is, where does it end? Will the entire UHF band eventually be auctioned off and terrestrial TV will have to move back to band III or be scrapped entirely?

BIII is out, too little or no capacity there.

At WRC 2023 there will be a review of the entire UHF band, 470-960MHz, with any changes taking place up to 2030. Most likely reduced DTT capacity but with more efficient compression standards, HEVC or a future H.266.

In the meantime the EU's proposed Decision on releasing the 700MHz band to mobile services includes a proposal to allow other technologies downlink-only transmission in the DTT band if a state authorises it.

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

Proposed Winter Hill (NW England) new frequencies, after the retune prompted by the 700 Mhz clearance. Thinking of Three Rock, Clermont Carn etc in the Irish context. Helluva lot of group C/D aerials will need changing.

Source: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/700-clearance-cfi/annexes/Manchester_research_report.pdf

Winter Hill is the transmitting station that has the largest number of group C/D rooftop aerials that will be affected by the frequency changes for 700 MHz clearance.

Approx. 2,658,000 households in the Winter Hill coverage area but not all will require an aerial replacement for the reasons outlined in the report.

The Cush

Earlier today, France, begun the process of transitioning the 700MHz band to mobile.

8 national multiplexes have been reduced to 6, in the process all channels have moved to MPEG4 video compression and most channels now transmit in HD format.

http://www.csa.fr/Television/Les-chaines-de-television/Les-chaines-hertziennes-terrestres

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

In the meantime the EU's proposed Decision on releasing the 700MHz band to mobile services includes a proposal to allow other technologies downlink-only transmission in the DTT band if a state authorises it.

The German Bundesrat in its opinion on the proposed EC Decision has rejected the proposal to allow non-DTT services use of the remaining DTT spectrum on the grounds that that it isn't necessary nor required by EU legislation. Broadcasting has been guaranteed use of the 470-694 MHz band until the end of 2030 and any sharing of the band could cause interference to existing or planned TV services.

In its opinion is says the proposal goes against the legally binding outcome of WRC-15 where no further changes are made to the broadcasting spectrum until the complete UHF band is reviewed at WRC-23. They continue to say that the proposal contradicts the EC commissioned Lamy Report which recommends a possible opening of the band after 2025 depending on the positive outcome of interference studies between broadcasting and mobile services in the band.

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

PERSEUS - the next generation broadcast video codec?

A possible solution for ever decreasing broadcast spectrum?

Just as HEVC/H.265 is about to go main stream with DTT in Germany and in the early planning stages in Italy and elsewhere with its claim to be approx. 50% more efficient, in subjective video comparisons over MPEG-4 video, another even more efficient codec named PERSEUS has been announced.

It has been endorsed by the EBU and claims to support 3x the amount of SD and HD channels in an 8 MHz multiplex.

"In practical terms, it means that you could stream a SD video at 125 KBit/s, HD video at 500 Kbit/s (720p?), a “good quality” HD video can be broadcast at 2 Mbps, and 4K UHD videos at 4 Mbps using existing hardware and infrastructure. " http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/13/perseus-video-codec-claims-2-to-3-times-better-compression-than-h-265-using-legacy-hardware/

According to an article on a516digital the PERSEUS codec is being deployed on 2G mobile networks to provide live SD quality TV at low bitrates (< 128 kbps).

The new technology has further potential for implementation around the world: V-Nova says it will enable operators and service providers "to provide high quality video (i.e., both linear and non-linear) within their bandwidth constraints: UHD at HD bitrates on large screen TVs, HD at SD bitrates on legacy set-top-boxes and mobile devices, and SD at sub-audio bitrates over bandwidth-constrained mobile networks."

With mobile network operators the world over fighting for ever greater slices of former terrestrial TV spectrum on the grounds of being able to cater for an expected increase in data usage, such technology may force a rethink about what is technically possible on current networks and how much capacity is actually needed for the future.

http://www.a516digital.com/2016/04/new-technology-enables-2g-streaming-and.html

http://www.v-net.tv/indian-ott-service-uses-perseus-to-stream-sd-video-over-2g-and-3g-mobile-networks
http://www.v-net.tv/ee-completes-successful-mobile-tv-trial-using-perseus-compression
http://www.v-net.tv/even-if-perseus-compression-was-worse-its-adoption-would-still-be-inevitable

Gerry Wicklow

Sounds too good to be true but would be great if it works. What date is it.......?

The Cush

The EBU has recently published a Tech Report on the distribution of HDTV & UHDTV programmes over DVB-T2 terrestrial networks using HEVC video compression, the standard soon to be rolled out in Germany.

Although not mentioned in the report we're probably looking at a future spectrum efficient codec like PERSEUS before we see UHD (full 4k and 8k) programming over terrestrial networks as the available DTT spectrum is reducing at an ever increasing speed through the so called Digital Dividends.

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreports/tr036.pdf

The Cush

Replanning to clear TV from the channels 49-60 is currently underway in conjunction with the UK. It is expected that TV services will clear the channels 49-60 by about 2021, creating a second digital dividend. Associated with that will be much tighter reuse of frequency channels. In these circumstances reception of TV services outside their core service area cannot be guaranteed. Thus people may find that where they are or have been receiving UK TV signals from Northern Ireland or Wales they may not longer be able to do so as the frequencies may be used by neighbouring area Irish TV transmissions.
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/communications/en-ie/spectrum/Pages/DTT-Spectrum.aspx#

The above statement is from the Dept's website about the possible reduction of overspill reception from NI/Wales due to 700MHz clearance.

Likewise Saorview/NIMux viewers in NI could suffer reductions in service according a recent Ofcom document

a small number of viewers in Northern Ireland may experience lower quality reception or coverage of “overspill” or NI mux services as a result of clearance. The planning and implementation programme should therefore consider the following categories specific to Northern Ireland,

Category 3: viewers who would reasonably be expected to receive DTT services from either overspill or NI mux, who would not normally be expected to be covered by the other.

Category 4: viewers who would reasonably be expected to receive DTT services from overspill or NI mux, who would be expected to be covered by both services.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/700-code-practice/statement/cop

The NI Mux licence was varied last Nov in preparation for the 700MHz clearance.

The Cush

At the end of April the WEDDIP multilateral cross-border spectrum coordination group, of which Ireland is a member, signed a final agreement on the revised DTT frequency plan for the 470-694 MHz band after 18 months of technical planning and bilateral meetings.

This plan is the basis for the finalisation of bilateral agreements on field strengths, interference levels, technical characteristics and transitional arrangements.

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

At the end of April the WEDDIP multilateral cross-border spectrum coordination group, of which Ireland is a member, signed a final agreement on the revised DTT frequency plan for the 470-694 MHz band after 18 months of technical planning and bilateral meetings.

This plan is the basis for the finalisation of bilateral agreements on field strengths, interference levels, technical characteristics and transitional arrangements.

Looking at the Divis frequencies for 2019- according to UKfree Tv,

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Divis

the ArqB Mux moves from 29 to 28, ArcA from 26 to 25 and SDN from 23 to 22. Why don't the maps in the first document show anything for chs 28, 25 & 22 for Divis? Maybe I'm interpreting the maps wrong?

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

Why don't the maps in the first document show anything for chs 28, 25 & 22 for Divis? Maybe I'm interpreting the maps wrong?

I'd take the WEDDIP maps to be the actual plan over the UKfree TV website speculation.

According to the maps the post 700MHz clearance plan for Divis is - 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30 (current plan 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29), the only change being ArqB's move to UHF 30 with the local mux being moved elsewhere.