clinton east

Minister Coonan was interviewed for an article in the Australian newspaper yesterday. The Minister was answering concerns that broadband television would not be the primary source of our entertainment going forward, and that rather Australians would continue to rely on ‘traditional television’ as a primary means of entertainment.

The Minister’s discussion document foresees the end of traditional television. The aim is to switch off analogue transmissions. There’s no question that Australians will, in the foreseeable future, move away from traditional television. They’ll be watching digital television, or perhaps something else.

But the real question that arises is; “Where do we go from here, given we won’t have analogue broadcast?” This is a different question, a question about distribution , and that’s perhaps the question people need to be asking.

Is now the right time to ask such questions? Yes. Only 10.8% of Australian homes have spent money for any capability for digital television at all. Minister Coonan’s point about the common practice of television watching is an excellent one in that it tells us about the experience of television watching. I believe, as I think she does, that most Australians will continue the experience of switching on the television in the living room and watching “Australian Idol”.

However, technical people need to consider a few broader issues. Specifically, they need to deal with the decoupling of the distribution medium from the practice. They key idea is that the experience of television watching does not need to change. For some it will; but the choice will be about either having more options, or just continuing to do what we already did.

We’ve seen changes like this already. The humble desktop telephone has already gone through a raft of distribution changes. Without any obvious signs for the user, some calls traverse the internet. Economics has already dictated that companies consolidate their communications needs into a single provisioned connection. The user experience doesn’t change. Not one bit. But calls are cheaper between branch offices, and that’s what counts.

Now, fast forwarding a few years to the scope of the discussion document, is it conceivable that television services, like telephone services today, will be commonly distributed over internet protocols? It’s more than conceivable, it’s a safe bet. The bandwidth of deployed networks will increase to allow it. So, the consumer will have a choice;

• Get a digital television, which can receive the all of the channels in its given licence area. Or,
• Buy an appliance with much the same experience, except able to view any channel being sent across the internet.

I think that anybody who’s ever wanted to watch episodes of Buffy when they screened stateside rather than wait for the Australian run will vote with their feet.

Oh, and one last point. Why shouldn’t we encourage both digital television and broadband television? Two reasons;

- Consumers should not need two devices sitting in their living room.

- Even if somebody did make a hybrid, it’s a waste of precious, scarce spectrum that could be deployed in rural areas. A very practical example of this is the upcoming standard IEEE 802.22 . The key feature of this new standard is that it can take advantage of unused broadcast television spectrum to provide communications networks in rural areas. Who would use such technology? Well, I think it’s what these guys are begging for. Rural area networks with better propagation characteristics.

Minister Coonan was interviewed for an article in the Australian newspaper yesterday. The Minister was answering concerns that broadband television would not be the primary source of our entertainment going forward, and that rather Australians would continue to rely on ‘traditional television’ as a primary means of entertainment.

The Minister’s discussion document foresees the end of traditional television. The aim is to switch off analogue transmissions. There’s no question that Australians will, in the foreseeable future, move away from traditional television. They’ll be watching digital television, or perhaps something else.

But the real question that arises is; “Where do we go from here, given we won’t have analogue broadcast?” This is a different question, a question about distribution , and that’s perhaps the question people need to be asking.

Is now the right time to ask such questions? Yes. Only 10.8% of Australian homes have spent money for any capability for digital television at all. Minister Coonan’s point about the common practice of television watching is an excellent one in that it tells us about the experience of television watching. I believe, as I think she does, that most Australians will continue the experience of switching on the television in the living room and watching “Australian Idol”.

However, technical people need to consider a few broader issues. Specifically, they need to deal with the decoupling of the distribution medium from the practice. They key idea is that the experience of television watching does not need to change. For some it will; but the choice will be about either having more options, or just continuing to do what we already did.

We’ve seen changes like this already. The humble desktop telephone has already gone through a raft of distribution changes. Without any obvious signs for the user, some calls traverse the internet. Economics has already dictated that companies consolidate their communications needs into a single provisioned connection. The user experience doesn’t change. Not one bit. But calls are cheaper between branch offices, and that’s what counts.

Now, fast forwarding a few years to the scope of the discussion document, is it conceivable that television services, like telephone services today, will be commonly distributed over internet protocols? It’s more than conceivable, it’s a safe bet. The bandwidth of deployed networks will increase to allow it. So, the consumer will have a choice;

• Get a digital television, which can receive the all of the channels in its given licence area. Or,
• Buy an appliance with much the same experience, except able to view any channel being sent across the internet.

I think that anybody who’s ever wanted to watch episodes of Buffy when they screened stateside rather than wait for the Australian run will vote with their feet.

Oh, and one last point. Why shouldn’t we encourage both digital television and broadband television? Two reasons;

- Consumers should not need two devices sitting in their living room.

- Even if somebody did make a hybrid, it’s a waste of precious, scarce spectrum that could be deployed in rural areas. A very practical example of this is the upcoming standard IEEE 802.22 . The key feature of this new standard is that it can take advantage of unused broadcast television spectrum to provide communications networks in rural areas. Who would use such technology? Well, I think it’s what these guys are begging for. Rural area networks with better propagation characteristics.