Open Television considers the National TDT Technical Plan and the regulation of the second digital dividend unavoidable and urgent

The call for general elections for April 28 jeopardizes the approval of the Royal Decree of the National Technical Plan for DTT as well as the extraordinary credit to offset the costs of the second digital dividend.

Open Television, a group made up of the main agents of Digital Terrestrial Television in Spain, considers the approval and entry into force of the Royal Decree that will approve the National Technical Plan for Digital Terrestrial Television and will regulate certain aspects for the release of the Second Digital Dividend.

Televisión Abierta has responded to the public consultation carried out by the Secretary of State for Digital Advancement on the new DTT Technical Plan and Second Digital Dividend.

What has come to be called the Second Digital Dividend is a mandate from the European Union, which has set June 30, 2020 as the deadline for its final and complete execution. Basically, it consists of releasing the frequencies that are now used by a large part of the free-to-air television (DTT) channels, in the 700 megahertz (MHz) band, which will be occupied by telecommunications operators for the deployment of the new generation of mobile communications called 5G, moving said channels to other locations in the radio spectrum enabled for it.

DTT is the most widespread free distribution platform for audiovisual content and its service reaches the majority of citizens in Spain. More than 75% of the television audience accesses audiovisual content through its channels, a figure that reaches 90% if access to DTT channels through payment platforms is also taken into account.

The national roadmap for the release of the Second Digital Dividend was prepared by the Popular Party Government and was ratified and published by the PSOE Government in June 2018, meeting the deadlines set by the EU and counting on the consensus and support of all actors in the audiovisual and telecommunications sector operating in Spain.

Once this transition process is launched, around 38 million citizens in practically the entire territory will be affected by the changes which will entail the implementation of the Second Digital Dividend, just as happened with the first, between September 2014 and March 31, 2015, which many citizens will remember for the small or large disruptions it could cause them.

This is an exclusively technical process that, being a State issue for the benefit of citizens, must necessarily be addressed within the stipulated period for this, Televisión Abierta emphasizes. Any delay would mean a foreseeable sanction from the EU and a very serious damage to the Spanish audiovisual sector as a whole, both for public and private television stations at the state and regional level, and for citizens of practically the entire country who enjoy a service so loved and demanded by society as a whole.

For this unavoidable process to be carried out successfully, in the opinion of Televisión Abierta it is necessary that, given the call for general elections for April 28, before April 15, the Council of Ministers approves, and is published in the BOE, the new Royal Decree that approves the National Technical Plan for DTT.

Furthermore, it must be accompanied by the rules that allow compensating the simultaneous broadcasts (simulcast) so that public and private television stations can carry out broadcasts on their previous and new frequencies. Only in this way will a progressive adaptation of the collective DTT antennas of the neighborhood communities affected by the changes and the consequent compensation to the citizens affected by this process be possible.

As in the First Digital Dividend, it is necessary that the State finances and compensates television broadcasters for the costs they will have to assume for the temporary simultaneous broadcasting of the channels on the previous and new assigned frequencies (simulcast), allowing the progressive adaptation of the collective DTT antennas of the neighborhood communities affected by the changes, as well as citizens for the costs of this antennaization. These compensations must be exempt from taxation (IRPF), for which the appropriate extraordinary credit corresponding to the 2019 financial year must be approved.

Global communication plan

The Second Digital Dividend process needs to be communicated to society efficiently, so that citizens can know that they must adapt their reception facilities, how to request and obtain the compensations to which they can benefit, and when to retune their televisions so as not to lose their favorite content.

Property managers must know the steps to follow in their managed communities to facilitate the adaptation process of collective antennas and how to manage compensations.

Consumer organizations must also be involved in the process, in their dual role as multipliers of messages for citizens and as a privileged window for receiving doubts, incidents and complaints from users.

Telecommunications installation companies must know how the process is carried out, what are the best technical solutions to adopt, how to advise neighborhood communities and how to carry out the adaptation of the installations on time after acceptance of the budget by the clients.

The plan must announce when simulcasts begin in each geographic area, when they end, and when users should retune their televisions.

According to Open Television, so that there is no loss of content for citizens and the consequent loss of audience for television stations, with the consequent economic or social impact, it is necessary to carry out simultaneous broadcasts between the channels that are abandoned and those of destination. And it must be done in two phases differentiated in time, turning on and off the broadcasts in some areas first and in others later due to the existing links between the radio channels between one broadcast area and another.

Taking into account that the minimum periods in each phase are six months of simultaneous broadcast, preceded by the incorporation work in the issuing centers of the new frequencies, this represents a total period of 12 months to ensure the process.

Adaptation of collective antennas

Telecommunications installation companies and manufacturers that provide the necessary equipment also require a minimum period of time to be able to address the antennaization process that will be carried out in practically 850,000 buildings. This work cannot be done well in terms shorter than those indicated, since the supply and installation capacity would collapse.

At open television we believe that these are the necessary premises for a process as important as the one presented shortly to be carried out successfully and with minimal inconvenience to citizens. It is a task that requires the participation of all the political, social and technical agents involved so that, without further delay, this change, which is decisive for the technological future of the country, can be undertaken.