Global TV interactive signal prototype raises eyebrows on standards choice

Officials at the Interactive Broadcast Development Group Inc (IBDG), Canadian Digital Television (CDTV) and Global TV are applauding the first Canadian terrestrial broadcast of a DTV signal, though its unveiling in Toronto last week drew mixed reactions. The signal, a prototype ITV application dubbed Global Explorer, offers a web-like news experience over-the-air. Potential applications include VOD, personalized content, t-commerce and even visual chat. But some industry representatives are questioning the technology used to power the application, saying it doesn’t conform with industry-chosen North American standards. Some industry insiders say that could make it difficult for Canadian spectrum managers to allocate bandwidth or coordinate consumer equipment rollouts with the U.S. IBDG drops TV licence bidIndustry watchers were somewhat surprised last week when the Interactive Broadcast Development Group Inc didn’t show up on a list of applicants for a new television licence in the Toronto-Hamilton-Kitchener area. IBDG expressed interest in the licences in early July (CNM, July 25/01). At last week’s Convergence: ITV and Beyond conference in Toronto, IBDG president and CEO Beverly Milligan said there were several reasons her group decided not to proceed. One of its main concerns was its application would alienate the very industry that her company wants to work more closely with in the future. "We feel pretty strongly that we need to work in partnership with the broadcast industry. Competing directly against them, therefore, is probably not a good thing," she told CNM. "Secondly, if we are interested in the licence, we are interested in a digital licence. We are not interested in any way, shape or form in building an analog facility or partnering on an analog facility." Although not specified in the CRTC’s call for applications, most assumed the licences would be for analog television channels. Had IBDG applied for a digital over-the-air licence, it’s likely the commission would have dismissed it as premature. IBDG has already been working with broadcasters to test the interactive capabilities of digital TV. Securing a DTV licence would have enabled the company to move those experiments from the lab into the marketplace. Milligan also says there’s no rush for the company to apply for a licence now. She notes that the application process was begun when Torstar Corp applied, and that the option remains open to begin a new round. Further, she says, "in our opinion, Industry Canada’s not going to give anyone an analog licence. So, why waste the time and give our story away in terms of the specifics around what we’re doing if, in fact, this is just a little puppet show with all the players saying, ‘well, they’ve done it. We have to do it, too.’" Milligan wouldn’t comment on IBDG’s plans should it have applied and won a licence, other than to say it would have acted to continue stimulating growth in the new media sector.At the heart of the debate is the transmission protocol used to send the signal from a tower to a consumer’s television or set-top box. For its prototype, the IBDG consortium has chosen to use the COFDM standard, which many believe is the best choice to send signals to not just fixed, but mobile devices as well. Michèle Beck, VP of regulatory engineering at the Canadian Cable Television Association, says the industry has already confirmed its use of the competing VSB standard – the same standard adopted by the sector in the United States. Though the two-year-old decision was re-visited by broadcasters in the U.S., the board of CDTV stated in January that it would continue to accept VSB as the standard. COFDM is backed as a transmission protocol by European countries. Terry Harvey, the DTV engineering director of Interactive Broadcast Ontario at Ryerson University, and a key technical player on the consortium, says he hadn’t planned to stir up a political controversy. Rather, he says the purpose is to demonstrate that an interactive signal and broadcast signal can be transmitted simultaneously in the same channel, and to test the interactive potential of over-the-air broadcasting. The choice of COFDM as a transmission protocol, he says, was based on the availability of equipment, and not on any technological advantage of one standard over another. Michael McEwen, president of CDTV, confirmed that it’s unlikely the issue will be re-visited or that Industry Canada will re-examine spectrum allocations for DTV. "I authorized (IBDG) to (use COFDM) because I didn’t see any harm in it. But, that battle’s over." He notes that engineers in the U.S. are working to improve the VSB standard to better work in a mobile environment, and that recent tests by the Washington-based National Association of Broadcasters and others to determine VSB’s viability found few advantages of one method over the other. Beck says it’s important that the broadcasters work in tandem with accepted standards, adding that IBDG’s demonstration was "a little surprising." "If you go with different technology, who sources the receivers, the consumer technology? Part of the problem is that a lot of consumers still go shop across the border and they come back and find that the technology just doesn’t work here because it’s not compatible. There’s a lot of issues there," she told Canadian NEW MEDIA. Beck says agreement on a single standard is necessary since Industry Canada has already allocated spectrum on the understanding that VSB will be used. Because parameters such as coverage area can differ between the two protocols, any disagreement now could upset CRTC hearings into DTV since coverage areas will likely be on the table during the proceeding.

Global TV interactive signal prototype raises eyebrows on standards choice

News | 08/23/2001 4:00 am EDT

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