Broadcasting is entering the digital realm, as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has decided to provide all necessary impetus to the digitization of broadcasting during the 11th Plan period. The I&B minister, PR Dasmunsi, has recently exhorted that the introduction and migration to digital broadcasting is going to be an important task that would need great effort from the government as well as the industry. The digital networks will cover radio as well as TV transmission, and will gradually extend to enterprise applications.

Changing Ambience
The emerging technologies for broadcasting will create a new ecosystem that will primarily depend on economics and the management capabilities of the marketers besides a host of other factors including the regulatory ones. While there's an array of applications like IPTV, on-demand entertainment services, video conferencing with improved transmission quality, interactive communications, etc, vendors are introducing new technologies to cover all these applications. On the technology side, 3G is going to be the main platform for new broadcast services, as vendors are planning to provide more bandwidth in the core as well as access rings. For example, companies like Bharti, Reliance Communication, and MTNL are in the process of testing IPTV solutions for their networks.

The emerging technologies for broadcasting will create a new ecosystem that will primarily depend on economics and the management capabilities of the marketers, besides a host of other factors including the regulatory ones

Mobile TV is another possibility, as it's increasingly gaining popularity in other parts of the world with the emergence of standards such as digital video broadcast to handhelds (DVB-H), which is derived from DVB-T, the terrestrial counterpart. Also, satellite digital multimedia broadcasting has helped service providers deliver content under a wider footprint and ensuring information security for the mobile device users. While TU Media, a consortium comprising telecom operators like SK Telecom, Toshiba, MBCO, and others, was among the early players in the digital multimedia broadcasting-satellite (DMB-S) service domain, it started offering its service during 2005 and the service offered 12 video and 20 audio channels to customers. Though DMB information is transmitted via satellite to mobile users, the service uses terrestrial gap fillers to cover shadow areas under its footprint. The satellite-based service is supposed to be more reliable than the conventional cellular networks. Many other global players are also quite active in the market today (see box: Global Forays). However, the challenge before marketers will be to attract buyers under a viable business model.

For instance, the success of new services like IPTV or mobile TV will largely depend on consumer awareness and the quality of service (QoS) at affordable prices because today most buyers feel cocooned in the cable networks, which may be offering poor service quality but are quite economical for most consumers in the price-sensitive market. Plus, the service providers would expect a smooth regulatory framework including the frequency spectrum that would allow them to offer triple- or quadruple-play services to the buyers. Meanwhile, the government is planning to regulate the broadcasting services by introducing a Bill (see box: Policy Matters).

In the current transition phase, vendors are introducing new technologies and services that will benefit the buyers and open up more business avenues. For example, the IP- and 3G-based networks will help service providers offer content and communication services to the home as well as corporate buyers. "With IP and 3G, the broadcasting market will benefit with QoS, resilience, and above all bandwidth optimization," says Kiran Pande, country manager (India), ECI Telecom. "3G is the next level that will help providers offer integrated solutions for all subscribers and be media independent. This means subscribers can hit the same content whether it's from mobile, TV, PC, or the Internet. These broadband-type services can be available to all end-users", he adds.

Challenges and Approach
While all stakeholders including consumers and vendors are going to gain in the transformed broadcast market, there are a number of challenges ahead. Initially, it may be difficult for the digital broadcast service providers to break the monopoly of cable operators, as they have a huge subscriber base. Plus, there will be migration challenges – including costs and technology adoption – for the enterprise users. Likewise, the service providers may not be quite willing to invest in the new infrastructure. Billing will be another intricate issue. "The service providers have a major challenge with the billing system, too. There are a lot of errors with the mobile billing today and the broadcast TV billing would also be a tough one," cautions Kiran Pande. Moreover, to exploit the full potential of digital broadcasting networks, service providers would need to offer plenty of local content to the consumers.