Campo Vidal: “the transition to digital will be deeper than we thought”

The president of the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts admits that Spain will be the country with “the most free television offering” and that digital will entail a “very unique scenario.”

The president of the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts, Manuel Campo Vidal, recognized today in his speech today in Santander at the IV Television Trends Forum organized by the Foundation for Audiovisual Research (FIA) and the Menéndez Pelayo University (UIMP) that the transition from analogue to digital television is "deeper than we thought." However, according to reports Europa Press, the president of the Academy has assured that, without delaying the deadlines, he is going to take Spain to a "very unique" scenario in Europe and the world because, in his opinion, it will be the country with "the most free television offer" on DTT.

Campo Vidal has expressed his confidence that, despite the "difficulties", Spain will reach a "good port" because, in his opinion, it is "a country that is an expert in making transitions." However, he acknowledged that he would like the process to be done “with more dialogue” and offered the Academy of Television Sciences and Arts as a “beacon of reference” for professionals and companies.

“We will get out of this situation with television where innovation will have a great opportunity,” Campo Vidal acknowledged. In this sense, he clarified that the fact that there is "little" money and "so many channels" will allow television executives to "give the opportunity" to producers and young people, something that before "was really impossible to happen." “In the fight for the audience, experiments could not be done,” he said.

Audiovisual bubble

Asked about the possibility that the excess of DTT licenses will cause an audiovisual bubble to burst in the short term, according to Europa Press, Álvarez referred to the statements made by the former president of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation, Joan Majó, who in a forum advocated for an “unusual” initiative, an “orderly contest” for the return of licenses.

“I don't think it will happen, but there will have to be a reorganization,” acknowledged the president of the ATV, who spoke of the specific case of the Bajo Llobregat region, with a population of 700,000 inhabitants, where a communication group “has not taken the license that had been granted.”

Campo Vidal has pointed out that, although every transition generates "some uncertainties", he does not see a "major" concern, while emphasizing that the user "will only receive advantages beyond the decoders that he has had to buy." “What is certain is that we are going to a totally new scenario, which would have existed in any case due to the arrival of DTT,” said Campo Vidal, who also recalled the “large number of existing licenses and the fragmentation of audiences.”