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New Broadcast Australia white paper on the NBN TV question
11 Feb 2010
Digital network specialist Broadcast Australia has today released a white paper assessing the merit of digital television delivery via Australia's planned fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) National Broadband Network (NBN), compared with proven terrestrial broadcast infrastructure.
The paper, entitled ‘Terrestrial Broadcasting and TV Content Delivery on the NBN', weighs the case for the implementation of an RF overlay capability on the NBN, which would cost an estimated additional $900m to $1.1bn nationally. The key benefits of this technology are cited as potentially providing coverage in selected blackspot areas, the ability to target small population centres (assuming FTTH presence), and its appeal for areas with roof-antenna planning restrictions.
The white paper concludes, however, that on balance there does not appear to be any desire or justification on the part of either broadcasters or consumers to pay new costs for a blanket NBN-delivered broadcast service, particularly given the existing infrastructure and ‘free' viewing status. Moreover, the fastest area of broadband growth is currently wireless broadband, suggesting that users value portability, mobility and general flexibility.
Instead, Broadcast Australia maintains, innovation in this space is more likely to come from complementary IP-based ‘new media' services-such as catch-up TV, video-on-demand, and subscription IPTV-which can provide much-needed on-demand niche content. The terrestrial broadcast services that are already in place deliver just as much, if not greater, functionality in terms of mass-market ‘linear' TV. This dual platform approach paves the way for the latest hybrid broadcast/IP devices, such as TiVo.
In preparing this white paper, Broadcast Australia has drawn on its extensive experience and expertise in the digital media delivery arena, plus discussions with key industry stakeholders and careful cost analyses.
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