EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
COMMITTEE ON CULTURE, YOUTH, EDUCATION, THE MEDIA
AND SPORT
Wednesday 24 May 2000
3.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m.
Altiero Spinelli Building – Room 3E2
BRUSSELS
PUBLIC HEARING
chaired by Mr. Giuseppe GARGANI,
Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sport
of the European Parliament
S U M M A R Y
The Dossier contains the following:
- Ms. J. ABRAMSKY“Radio in the Digital Era: the Broadcasting Perspective”
- Mr. H. AMOR" Dab: on its way to mass market? "
- Mr. D. WOOD"Digital Radio: a Pan-European problem"
- Mr. S. NATUCCI"What Community measures to support radio in the service of the citizens"
- Programme and conclusions of the Conference on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)
(Lisbon 6-7 April 2000)
- Keynote address by Mr. Van der Pas, Director General of EAC (European Commission) at the DAB
(Lisbon 6-7 April 2000)
Summary of presentation
By Ms. Jenny Abramsky, Director BBC Radio
* * *
"RADIO IN THE DIGITAL ERA: THE BROADCASTING PERSPECTIVE"
Radio is not last century's medium. It is flourishing across Europe, with almost 10,000 stations on air and 210 million people listening for an average 3 hours a day. Radio's intimate relationship with the listener, its capacity to speak to and from communities which are often denied a voice by other media and its special role in the political, social and cultural lives of Europeans are some of the qualities which have given the medium its unique and enduring power and will aid its survival in the future.
But Radio will also need to change and its transition from the analogue to the digital era is a major challenge. The Internet, the development of mobile phones, the invention of new technologies such as MP3 offer radio a range of digital routes but these will supplement, not replace, radio's need for its own specific digital platform. In Eureka 147(DAB), radio has developed such a technology which enables public and private broadcasters to deliver new services, new radio stations, crystal clear sound quality: a step change in the value they can deliver to audiences.
Radio's digital transition, however, is risky and expensive. The industry is holding its breath. Public service broadcasters must win public approval and political support. Commercial radio needs shareholder commitment. Manufacturers must bring receivers at affordable prices to a mass market on a pan-European basis. A substantial concerted effort is now required from all stakeholders - broadcasters, manufacturers and legislators - to carry the transition forward. The situation is not helped by the lack of a public policy lead from Europe. This Hearing is important in sending out a clear signal that radio matters. Radio will go digital, there is no other option. We urge the European Institutions to recognise the unique character and importance of radio in Europe, to support radio's digital transition and to assert through its audio-visual programmes and strategies that Radio will be, in its own right, a key industry in the Information Society.
Résumé de la présentation
Mme Jenny Abramsky, Directeur, BBC Radio
* * *
"LA RADIO À L’ÈRE NUMÉRIQUE :
LE POINT DE VUE DES RADIODIFFUSEURS"
La radio n’est pas un média du siècle dernier. C’est un média florissant partout en Europe, avec plus de 10.000 stations et 210 millions de citoyens l’écoutant chaque jour pendant plus de trois heures. La relation intime qui existe entre la radio et ses auditeurs, sa capacité de parler à des communautés souvent ignorées par les autres médias, enfin son rôle particulier dans la vie politique, sociale et culturelle des Européens, ne sont que quelques-unes des qualités ayant conféré à ce média son pouvoir unique et durable, et qui l’aideront à survivre dans le futur.
Mais la radio va aussi devoir changer et accomplir sa migration de l’analogique vers le numérique, ayant ainsi à relever un très grand défi.
Internet, le développement de la téléphonie mobile, l’invention de nouvelles technologies telles que le MP3 offrent à la radio tout un éventail de voies numériques qui en fait viendront compléter, et non remplacer, une plate-forme numérique spécifique qui lui est nécessaire. Grâce au système Eurêka 147 (DAB), la radio a pu développer cette technologie, et a permis aux radiodiffuseurs, privés comme publics, d’offrir de nouveaux services, de nouvelles chaînes de radio, une qualité du son analogue à celle du CD : bref, un saut qualitatif dans le service rendu aux auditeurs.
Le passage au numérique, toutefois, comporte pour la radio des risques et des dépenses considérables. L’industrie retient son souffle. Les radiodiffuseurs publics doivent se battre pour l’approbation publique et un support politique. Les chaînes de radio privées doivent obtenir le soutien de leurs actionnaires. Les constructeurs doivent lancer, sur un marché à l’échelle pan-européenne, des récepteurs en quantité suffisante et à des prix abordables.
Une action coordonnée entre tous les secteurs concernés – radiodiffuseurs, constructeurs et législateurs – est donc nécessaire pour mener à bien cette migration. La situation est d’autant plus difficile qu'une politique communautaire en la matière reste à définir.
Cette audition est donc très importante, car elle envoie un signal très clair : la radio, cela compte. La radio sera numérique, il n’y a aucun doute ni aucune autre option possible.
Nous invitons les institutions européennes à reconnaître les caractéristiques uniques et l’importance de la radio en Europe, à soutenir la migration de la radio vers le numérique, et à garantir, à travers leur politique audiovisuelle et leurs programmes dans ce secteur, que la radio sera, de plein droit, une industrie stratégique de la Société de l’Information.
Summary of presentation
by Dr. Hamed Amor, Director, Tyssen Krupp Multimedia
* * *
" DAB: ON ITS WAY TO MASS MARKET? "
After the successful digitalisation of telecoms it is now the turn of broadcasting. This is a necessary and inevitable development in the context of converging media and the new internet world.
As far as digital radio is concerned, there is only one system available which is suitable, and that is the Eureka System DAB (EU 147): a system which has been developed by the European institutions, is standardised and has been introduced in many countries in Europe and beyond. It is also internationally recognised as the only system which meets all the requirements of the whole radio value chain.
Digital radio and digital broadcasting in general in Europe have a leading position, and the consumer electronics industry has a golden opportunity - and perhaps the last one - to win back lost ground, with the obvious impact on the European economy. Several hundred thousand jobs and billions of turnover in Europe depend directly on the successful introduction of DAB in Europe and beyond.
The necessary technical requirements have been developed: DAB is a worldwide recognised standard, and a tested technology; there is DAB equipment available for programme production, transmission and reception: car radios - allowing for telematics applications, home receivers, and PC card receivers, compatible with DAB multimedia applications and interconnectable with portable radios.
In order to secure a broad introduction of this technology (mass production) and therefore of the economic potential that it represents, there is a need for broad and concerted European action to fulfil the following necessary pre-conditions:
- The right regulatory framework for the introduction and sustainability of digital radio
- The acceleration of licensing processes
- Sufficient frequency allocation and a Europe-wide harmonised management and coordination of this resource
- Support for broadcasters to invest in the rapid achievement of the minimum necessary level of coverage, and to produce interesting services and content which are essential for the consumers’ acceptance of DAB. The development of networks and services by both private and public broadcasters has to be supported .
It would also be useful to support broadcasters carrying the costs of simulcasting during the transition from analogue to digital radio services.
If these preconditions were met, it would create certainty and confidence for the high investments needed in order to bring to the market new receivers with the necessary functions, in sufficient number and therefore at reasonable prices.
If this was achieved, the European success story of GSM, in the field of communication technology, could be mirrored in the broadcasting domain by a success story for digital radio.
Dr. Hamed Amor, Thyssen Krupp Multimedia GmbH
Krefeld, Deutschland
Zusammenfassung
Nach der erfolgreichen Digitalisierung der Telekommunikation läuft gegenwärtig die Digitalisierung des Rundfunks auf Hochtouren. Diese ist eine zwangsläufige Entwicklung, ist sie doch für die nicht mehr aufzuhaltende Konvergenz der Medien unabdingbar und in der neuen Internetwelt einfach ein Muß.
Für das „Digital Radio“ kommt nur das EUREKA System DAB (EU 147) in Frage: Dieses von europäischen Institutionen bis zur Serienreife entwickelte, standardisierte und in vielen Ländern Europas und außerhalb eingeführte System ist weltweit als das einzige System anerkannt, das alle Anforderungen von den in der Wertschöpfungskette des „Radios“ Beteiligten erfüllt.
Digital Radio, generell der digitale Rundfunk, in dem Europa eine weltweit führende Position einnimmt, eröffnet der europäischen Wirtschaft eine einmalige und auf absehbare Zeit letztmalige Gelegenheit, verlorenes Terrain in der Consumer Electronic Branche zurückzugewinnen. Hunderttausende von Arbeitsplätzen und jährliche Milliardenumsätze in Europa hängen unmittelbar von einer erfolgreichen Einführung von DAB in Europa und anderswo in der Welt ab.
Dafür notwendige technische Voraussetzungen sind geschaffen: Ein weltweit anerkannter Standard, ausgereifte, erprobte und bewährte Technologie und Geräte für die Programmproduktion, Übertragung und Empfang: Autoradios mit leistungsfähigen Schnittstellen zu Telematik Anwendungen, Heimempfänger und PC-Karten-Empfänger insbesondere für die mit DAB eröffneten multimedialen Anwendungen und –im Ansatz- portable Radios.
Zur Absicherung der breiten Einführung (Massenprodukt) und somit der o. g. wirtschaftlichen Potentiale bedarf es noch einer breiten europäischen konzertierten Aktion zur Schaffung weiterer notwendiger Voraussetzungen:
-Rechtsrahmen für die Einführung und Absicherung des Regelbetriebs
-Beschleunigung des Lizenzierungsprozesses
-Zuweisung ausreichender Frequenzen für einen europaweit harmonisierten Betrieb
-Unterstützung der Rundfunkanstalten bei den notwendigen Vorleistungen zur schnellen Erreichung einer Mindestabdeckung mit interessanten Diensten und Inhalten, die die Annahme von DAB durch den Konsumenten erfordert. Private wie Öffentlich rechtliche Rundfunkanstalten müssen in ihrem Netzausbau und Diensteangeboten bestärkt werden. Eine Förderung der privaten Rundfunkanstalten in einer Phase der parallel Ausstrahlung von Analog und Digital Radio ist ebenfalls sehr hilfreich.
Hiermit wird Sicherheit für notwendige hohe Investitionen geschaffen, um neue Endgeräte mit den notwendigen Funktionalitäten, in ausreichender Zahl und somit zu erschwinglichen Preisen in den Markt zu bringen. Hiermit kann der europäischen Erfolgsstory der Kommunikationstechnik „GSM“ eine Erfolgsstory im Rundfunk “DigitalRadio“ folgen.
Summary Speech
Mr. David Wood, Head of new technology, EBU/WorldDAB
* * *
" DIGITAL RADIO: A PAN-EUROPEAN PROBLEM "
When all media are said to be "converging", does radio really matter? Why should we care? In the past, well-meaning European initiatives to help new media have not always been successful, and community fingers have been burned. Shouldn't we leave everything to market forces? These are all reasonable questions. But the answers lead to a clear conclusion. Radio does need European action coordinated by the Community.
Radio is the senior broadcast media, though age does not alter its value. There are many features that make it unique and irreplaceable. All research todate points to radio having the greatest "trust" relationship of all to the citizen. People believe what they hear on the radio like for no other medium. It has a unique effect on the psyche. Radio is a friend - television, the cinema, the printed word, and multimedia, are less so.
Radio also scores uniquely in cost and convenience. It is an enabler of localism and regionalism. While doing so, radio allows us to keep our visual imagination alive, and not drugged by new visual technology.
It provides a massively pluralistic and creative European home industry, which feeds many others.
It is a unique art form of itself.
Other media cannot substitute for these strengths.
Multimedia will have ' audio' elements, and will thrive and prosper as a new medium. It will not do the job that radio does today in the hearts and minds of the public. If our grandchildren are to enjoy radio, we must do something today, to make sure it is available to them, and still thriving. Radio is part of our cultural ecosystem, and the information society will be much the poorer without it.
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The path from analogue to digital
Why should an apparently healthy radio industry be at risk? The answer lies in the wind of change - digitalisation - that is blowing through the media delivery world. Unless radio makes the analogue to digital transition it will inevitably wither and die.
Digitalisation is a sea change in technology. There are no horse-drawn services today. In the years ahead there will be no analogue media delivery systems. The help that radio needs is to make that analogue to digital transition, something that unwittingly its infrastructure makes difficult. Radio will not perish overnight, but the tide is coming in, and it is still on the beach.
Digital television has already begun. For pay TV services via satellite, it has been successful in several European countries. Why not merely add digital radio to digital television broadcasts, then in time drop the current radio analogue broadcasts, and make the transition that way?
Alas, this will not do the trick. European radio, rich in quality and diversity, is only as good as it is because it is an autonomous sector. Radio people make and broadcast radio programmes. They are focussed and committed to radio. Radio purely as an after-thought to television has never produced quality, and it never will. Radio needs to be master of its own destiny, for the focus of the staff, and for media pluralism.
The European DAB system
Digital radio has its own technology - DAB - in fact developed in advance of the digital television family, DVB. Ten years after DAB was developed in Europe, digital radio receivers are still not available or plentiful in the shops; digital radio broadcasts are available - but only in modest numbers. And some broadcasters in Europe are running out of the cash, and the will, needed to continue broadcasting digital radio - when there are no receivers around to receive it. In spite of the technical excellence of the DAB system, we are near a crisis.
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The prospect of market failure
Why have market forces not brought digital radios to the shops? Receiver manufactures hoped to introduce DAB receivers in volume as long ago as the mid 1990s. They have not yet been able to do so. It is not hard to see the confidence barriers they face.
No purely free-to-air digital broadcasting, be it television, radio, or multimedia has been successfully introduced anywhere in the world to date. The only digital broadcasting that has succeeded has been pay-TV, much less free-to-air digital radio.
In the United States, where free to air digital terrestrial television has been introduced without pay TV, sales are meagre, even with the unique selling proposition of digital high definition television.
In the UK, free-to-air digital terrestrial television is being successfully introduced because it makes use of a zero cost pay TV receiever. This UK formula ("diagonal integration") will provide one way for free-to-air digital television to make the transition. It is not a formula available for digital radio. Radio's very essence is a free-to-air medium. There is no pay radio to latch on to.
The transition for free-to-air digital broadcasting of any kind must have formidable barriers to success. When set makers think of investing in the mass production of digital free-to-air radios, where these barriers seem highest, they must worry. To have the courage to surmount the obstacles, the European Community has to build confidence in the value of radio, and its place in the information society.
The problem of substitutes
For both digital free-to-air television and radio, 'substitutes' (analogue sets) are available at much lower cost. In the radio case, this is extreme. Analogue radios, providing most if not all the programme channels available digitally, and many more besides, are sold at almost zero cost.
We make the analogue to digital transition of radio for the long term good of the listener and the planet - to make more and better services available in a more efficient way - to give them eventually more choice and a system that works better. This is not an obvious inducement, early on, when Joe Public has to pay many times more for a receiver for fewer services -albeit with higher sound quality. Especially when no one in authority seems to see radio as of value anyway.
The largest barrier of all to success in digital free-to-air radio is caused by the structure of the radio industry - necessary and valuable though it is for other reasons. Radio programme providers are thousands of small and medium sized enterprises, or sub corporations, separated entirely from the independent autonomous receiver industry.
Economist and politicians have long argued that separation of this kind is good for the people, and for a market economy. If the programme providers and set makers are joined together, they create a 'vertically integrated' structure, and a captive market, which discourages competition and hence the best in goods and services.
In a "horizontal" structure, of the kind we have in the radio industry, the programme provider and the receiver manufacturers are entirely separate layers. They both agree a common technical standard for transmission - which they dutifully have done. Now, in theory, every receiver can receive every broadcast, and competition for both content and receivers can flourish. This works if the system can actually produce low cost receivers in volume. Once underway, the vertical structure will flourish, but first it has to get underway.
Each layer of the industry has to make an investment, and needs to have separate justification for doing so. The justification in one layer of the industry does not enter into that in another layer. When the set maker decides whether to make receivers in large volumes or not, he bases the decision only on the return that his sales are likely to bring.
In this case, the substitute situation increases the risk of failure, unless the price can be brought really low. To do that calls for a large investment. The benefits to the Community as a whole of digital radio will be massive, and clearly justify a large investment, but the return the set maker gets is going to be only a small part of the total returns.