Chaos coming televisions: the units at risk of Italian … – The Republic

Rome – A little at a time – and no later than 30 June 2020 – Italian households and companies will have to change their TVs. Or at least buy a special external decoder and connect it to the old TV set. Only in this way will continue to see the digital terrestrial channels. The novelty, not really nice, is illustrated by two parliamentary documents of the Commissions of the Senate and House Telecommunications. The two opinions explain that Italian broadcasters (RAI, Mediaset, La7 and other) will be forced to change the transmission technique of their television signal. Will have to take, that is, the second-generation digital terrestrial (DVB-T2) and possibly software that compresses the signal (called HEVC). As a result, families will have no choice but to purchase a television set or an external decoder also second generation, worth the blackout of the channels.

The Senate and House documents – the first approved, the second vote Wednesday – set out the Italian position on a proposal for a European Commission decision. The Commission wants to put order into the ether, and in particular of a quality binary frequencies. It is the “Band 700″. This band is still occupied by television broadcasters (6 in Italy) while Europe destines to telecommunications companies, which will use it to offer ultra-fast Internet connections (4G and 5G) by tablet or smartphone.

Now this rotation – via the TV and into the telecoms companies – has already decided long ago. But Europe was content that the changing of the guard to happen in 2022, including six years. Instead, the Commission wants to bring forward the date to June 30, 2020. And the effects of this acceleration would be heavy, for us Italians. Suddenly, the country would have only 14 free channels where to host national broadcasters evicted by the band 700, as all the others. At that point, to radiate the signal, these broadcasters should adopt a new technique, the second-generation digital terrestrial, and even software that compress the weight of the channels. The investments will be important for publishers, but families would have their bill to pay for a new TV set or to an external decoder. A small TV of 22 inches (brands Samsung, Telesystem, Philips) now costs between 140 and 165 Euros, if DVBT-2. A decoder, from 30 to 446 Euros. These second-generation devices will be the only manufacturable (July 2016) and the only ones for sale (from January 2017).

The account is also coming to the state. Today on the band 700 are active six national networks: three are of Mediaset and a well Ammar Tarak, historical ally of Alfa, for example. These publishers have a concession until 2032. And before leaving the band 700 will ask, in addition to new frequencies, a substantial compensation. The state, in turn, will auction the frequencies. In November 2015, France has achieved 2.79 billion of four operators of tlc (Boygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange, SFR). Germany over 5 by Deutsche Telecom, Telefonica, Vodafone (albeit for a frequency package more complex).
Overall Italian scenario, Michele Anzaldi – the Democratic Party MP who is writing the opinion of the House – seeking help in Europe. Last week, Anzaldi wrote MEP Patrizia Toia (she also Pd, vice chairman of the Industry Committee) that he may give a hand to stop this runaway train. Anzaldi remember that the Italians have already bought decoders and televisions at the arrival of the first digital terrestrial. Now face a new strong spending. The same producers would have difficulty meeting the demand for new devices, while TV broadcasters would take on enormous investments to upgrade the repeaters. The Italian is hoping to restore the deadline to 2022.
will manage this transition is the Ministry of Economic Development is the Guarantor of Communications (AgCom). And the Guarantor consultants assess a technological loophole. In their view, the first-generation digital terrestrial (DVB-T) may also remain in the field if emissions were to be strengthened. Do is adopt the standard MPEG-4 (stronger than MPEG-2 in use today). This road, however, has been chosen by the French who will begin to release the band 700 this April 5, starting from Paris. The French – strong of an ether neater our – point of this pairing: first-generation digital (DVB-T) and MPEG-4. And estimate that only 5 million families – one in four – eventually have to change your TV or set-top box.

Topics:

TV

decoder

TV

TV frequencies

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