The future of TV signal distribution lies in convergence, where the reception of terrestrial broadcasting (DTT) and IPTV are intertwined. Miloš Mastník, CEO of Czech Radiocommunications (CRA), said this at Tuesday's Innovation Day conference.
Terrestrial reception is still the strongest way of receiving TV signals in the Czech Republic. It is used by almost 53% of Czech households and this indicator is basically stable (54.5% a year ago). IPTV and cable reception continues to grow, exceeding 42% (40.7% last year), while satellite reception has also increased slightly compared to last year to 18.7%.
The share of households using TV signal reception
- DTT: 52.9%
- IPTV + CAB: 42.2%
- Satellite: 18.7%
"Terrestrials have a longer future than we thought," Mastník told the conference participants, adding that five stations have entered terrestrials in the last year on the CRA network and the capacity of multiplexes 22 and 23 is close to full. Convergence is also manifesting itself in the technological sphere, he said. As a cloud service provider, CRA records up to 40% of the total internet traffic during peak times in its OTT and HbbTV services offered to TV operators.
Ceske Radiokomunikace is also working on the development of 5G Broadcast, which enables the transmission of TV signals to mobile devices, recalled Marcel Procházka, director of legal and regulatory affairs at Ceske Radiokomunikace. The company started tests in the capital last April (transmitters Žižkov, Strahov), but due to a system problem they did not meet expectations. Therefore, new tests with new hardware are being prepared. Tests will also be conducted to connect 5G Broadacst with the internet (a kind of HbbTV analogy on the phone) so that TV viewers can watch non-linear services on their screens, as the technology can switch between 5G and non-linear broadcasts.
CRA also intends to bring mobile phones that will support 5G Broadcast to the Czech Republic. This should accelerate the development of 5G Broadcast in the Czech Republic, according to Marcel Procházka. Business models for its development will also be sought.
Source: mediaguru.cz
