DVB-I and UHD talking points at DVB World

DVB-I was the hot topic once again at DVB World 2024 in Munich. Among other topics of discussion was ultra-high-definition services on digital terrestrial television. With spectrum secured for at least another decade in Europe, two major markets are launching 4K UHD services on their terrestrial networks, ready for the Olympics. The United Kingdom, which has led the way on DTT, is not one of them. British broadcasters were notable by their absence. It seems that they have made Freely their test bed, and they are going to lie in it.

DVB-I is an open standard to enable online service discovery. It effectively supplements or replaces the service information that is transmitted in broadcast networks and allows devices and displays that are connected to the internet to access announced instances of services over any network.

DVB World 2024 - Taking DVB-I to the next level. Photo: Tomas Hercog

Trial services are underway in Italy and Germany. Both were on show in live demonstrations. Further trials are proposed in other territories. The United Kingdom is not one of them, although public service media providers are promoting their own proprietary Freely platform that will do something similar and is based on the same basic technologies.

A breakout ‘unconference’ session discussed the similarities and differences between an operator app, as proposed by Freely, and an open platform based on DVB-I. In practice they have much in common, and the latest version of HbbTV embraces DVB-I for service discovery. As a result, manufacturers may support both approaches, although whether they will want to hand over the user interface to a service provider will remain a strategic question.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK discussed a proposed approach to content discovery that looks remarkably like DVB-I. This could be used in conjunction with ISDB standards in Japan. There is also interest in DVB-I in association with the latest ATSC standards. This suggests the prospect of a universal standard for television metadata, which would be a world first. The biggest challenge to that might be the association with the DVB name.

Thomas Stockhammer of Qualcomm, one of the original proponents of DVB-I, showed how 5G mobile networks can also use DVB-I for service discovery. Together with Rohde & Schwarz and German broadcasters ARD and ZDF they showed the first standards-conforming integration of 5G broadcast in a DVB-I service framework on a commercial smartphone.

Another breakout session led by the DTG from the United Kingdom discussed the need for a collective vision or roadmap to manage the transition to transmission over internet protocol networks, both fixed and wireless. Without a considered approach there is the risk of further market fragmentation and an erosion of universal access to services.

There was also discussion led by the Service List Registry of the role of regulation and the use of specifications like DVB-I service lists to support appropriate prominence and attributable provenance for media services, particularly those identified by regulators of being of general interest or public value.

DVB World 2024 - Unconference sessions - William Cooper. Photo: Tomas Hercog

While DVB-I was the hot topic, there was also talk about DVB-NIP. Not to be confused with DVB-I, which is a metadata standard, DVB-NIP is all about using native Internet Protocol packets for broadcast transmission. While the benefits of this might not be immediately obvious, it allows efficient broadcast transmission of file-based media. That could include file-based fragments of streaming media or even magazines in PDF format, as a live satellite trial from SES demonstrated.

Showing that there is still life in traditional terrestrial transmissions, France and Spain are both launching ultra-high-definition services nationally.

With nearly 32 million television homes in France, over 60% have telco television services, but over 45% use digital terrestrial television, known there as TNT, 19% of them exclusively. Of those, just over half report that they are satisfied with terrestrial reception and do not wish to change. The main television in 60% of homes in France is estimated to be capable of UHD and this is expected to rise to 70% by the end of 2024.

In time for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, UHD services are being rolled out across France, with 3840×2160 resolution at 50 progressive frames per second, high-dynamic range, wide colour gamut, and next generation audio.

In Spain, with 19.3 million television homes, digital terrestrial television adoption remains at over 70%.

UHD services will be available in both DVB-T and DVB-T2 multiplexes, covering 99% and 60% of the population respectively. These will also offer 2160p50 images in high-dynamic range with wide colour gamut and next generation audio.

All of which makes the United Kingdom, one of the first countries in Europe to launch a digital terrestrial television service, look rather backward in comparison. Although this DVB World had one its highest ever attendances, with delegates from around the world, it was notable that there were no representatives from the BBC or ITV on the delegate list.

www.dvbworld.org
www.dvb.org

Television subscription revenue sustains

Global revenue from subscription television services will remain greater than that from online video subscription services through to 2028, although the gap is narrowing. The number of television subscriptions will remain roughly flat, while the number of online video subscriptions continues to rise. However, online subscriptions will largely supplement rather than replace revenue from traditional television subscriptions.

Speaking at the recent Connected TV World Summit in London, Maria Rua Aguete, who is media and entertainment research director at Omdia, said that while the market share of pay television has declined, subscriber numbers globally have remained stable at just over a billion homes worldwide. That number is expected to remain around the same through to 2028, although the share of the market will fall from 37% to 33%.

The number of online video subscriptions will grow to 2.2 billion by 2028. That is double the number in 2020, when the online video subscriptions overtook those for traditional pay television services.

Television and online video revenues 2018-2028. Source: Omdia

Television subscription revenue, although slowly declining, is still expected to be above non-advertising revenue from online video at over $180 billion a year in 2028.

From this it is notable that television subscriptions will still be a big business. Furthermore, online video subscription revenue is largely supplementing, rather than replacing, that from traditional television subscriptions. However, it is also clear that online video subscription revenue is predicted to rise with little sign of slowing down any time soon.

www.omdia.com

American share of European revenues grows

The European audiovisual market was worth €130bn in 2022. The top two markets were Germany and the United Kingdom, respectively worth €25 billion and €24 billion, followed by France at €17 billion, Italy at €10 billion, and Spain at 7 billion. Despite rising revenues from online video subscriptions, the overall sector has declined in revenues in real terms.

These are among the many numbers provided in the European Audiovisual Observatory Yearbook of Key Trends.

The market grew by 5.6% in 2022, after an 8.5% increase in 2021. 60% of the growth arose from the continued boom of online video subscriptions. Given high inflation, there was a decline in sector revenues in real terms.

Among the top 100 audiovisual players operating in Europe, 60% of revenues in 2022 were banked by European-owned groups. However, the top 3 groups by revenue were from the United States. Ranked by revenue they were Comcast, which owns Sky, then Netflix, which has risen remarkably, followed by Walt Disney.

The next 4 places were held by RTL, ARD, BBC, and Canal Plus. Public broadcasters accounted for 27% of audiovisual group revenue among the top 100 services.

The top 10 places, which also included Canal Plus, Warner Bros Discovery, ITV, and ProDSiebenSat.1, accounted for over half of all revenues among the top 100 groups.

Within the top 20 groups, which account for 73% of revenues, 7 are based in the United States. They include Liberty Global, Paramount, and at number 20 there is Amazon.

Top 20 Audiovisual groups in Europe by revenue in 2022
Rank Group
1 Comcast
2 Netflix
3 Walt Disney
4 RTL
5 ARD
6 BBC
7 Canal Plus
8 Warner Bros. Discovery
9 ITV
10 ProSiebenSat.1
11 Bouygues
12 France Télévisions
13 Vodafone
14 Liberty Global
15 Paramount
16 MediaForEurope
17 Deutsche Telekom
18 RAI
19 ZDF
20 Amazon
Source: European Audiovisual Observatory, analysis of data from EBU/MIS, Ampere Analysis, ORBIS and annual reports.

Looking at the global top 50 audiovisual groups by revenue, 23 were based in the United States, with just 13 in Europe, 5 in Japan, and 9 in other countries.

The Yearbook 2023/2024: Key Trends is available from the European Audiovisual Observatory web site. The full online Yearbook is available by subscription.

www.obs.coe.int