As on 08.07.
08
First telecast started in India in Delhi by All India Radio on Sept 15,
1959
Doordarshan introduced colour TV in India coinciding with Asian
Games in 1982
Terrestrial television broadcasting still remains in the exclusive
domain of only Doordarshan under Prasar Bharati
C&S networks made their appearance in early 1990s
First Direct To Home (DTH) Satellite television service was launched
in October 2003
Over the years, the increase in viewership of cable television and
DTH has been at the cost of viewership of terrestrial television
broadcasts
Transmission of airwaves on radio frequencies
using transmitters, transponders and towers
established across the territory
Analog Mode
Transmission of waves that are continuous in terms of both time and
amplitude
Digital Mode
Transmission of discontinuous signals using discrete values to
represent information
Makes use of multiplex transmitters to allow reception of multiple
channels on a single frequency range (such as a UHF/ VHF channel)
Transmission of signals is in Analog mode
Signals are corrupted by noise and interference as they
propagate through terrestrial media
‘Multipath propagation'
Signals reach a TV receiver by both a direct path and a
delayed path
The delayed path occurs because the signals get reflected
by high rise buildings/trees etc in their path and reach the
receiver slightly delayed
These two combine to produce pictures with ghosts
Transmitter transmits a single TV programme channel
through a 7/8 MHZ wide RF channel
Low power Transponders and Amplifiers
Terrestrial Antenna
Satellite
Towers
Dish
Antenna
Set Top Box
Broadcast Uplinking Station
Digital Video/Audio Compression (DVC)
Redundant Information of a TV Channel is
compressed (identified and removed) from the
incoming digitized signal
Compression reduces the amount of
information to be transmitted in a given time,
leading to spectrum efficiency
Psycho Visual property of human vision system
also helps prevent human eye from noticing
any such loss of resolution in compressed
picture
Enhanced Services - Broadcaster transmits a
separate data stream carrying some
programme related information. A viewer if
interested can run the application
Interactive Services - Involves a continuous
communication between the service provider
and the service consumer.
Internet Services - DTT network can also be
used for providing Internet access
ATSC standard, DVB-T standard, ISDB-T
standard
DVB-T standard is the most widely deployed
around the world, mainly because of its much
improved performance in the presence of
Multipath
Doordarshan's DTT service is based on DVB-T
standard
Flexible system
Wide choice of user selectable transmission
parameters enables a broadcaster to tailor the
transmission system to his requirements
Two layer hierarchical system
Transmitter emits two data streams which may
contain the same programmes or entirely different
programmes.
By separate transmission parameters for the two
streams, these two streams can be optimized for
reception under different conditions. E.g. for
stationery reception and other for mobile reception
‘ Forward Error Correction Coding’
Signals can be protected from impairment caused
by noise/ interference by this technique
It enables the receiving system to detect and
correct errors
Tailor-Made Content
Provides a means for broadcasting content tailor -
made and targeted for the local population. This is
particularly important in a country with multiple
languages, cultures and customs like India
COFDM (Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing)
Makes signals highly robust in case of Multipath
reception
Hence, signals can be received not only on fixed roof
top antennas but also by portable indoor/outdoor
antenna and also in moving vehicles
Spectrum Efficient Technology
Transmitter transmits a multiplex of 5or 6 TV channels
through the same RF channel
This increased capacity helps deliver more TV
programmes and several new value added services to
viewers
Technical issue:
Replacement of all analog transmitters by digital ones if
intend to use the current infrastructure of DD
Or set up the complete infrastructure
Licensing Issue:
Licenses for Private Terrestrial Television Broadcasting
Service not in place
Licensing likely to be awarded for coverage on national,
regional or city level separately
Penetration issue:
Public will have to acquire digital TV sets or set-top
boxes to be attached to existing TV sets to receive
digital signals
DTH gives better quality picture than conventional cable
TV because Cable TV in India is analog
Even if the Cable might receive the signal through a
digital receiver, the transmission in his cable is still
analog
Analog as we all know is subject to various disturbances
and degradations during transmission on cable
DTH loses out on the fact that it will operate on the Ku
band, which has a peculiarity that during heavy rains the
signal just fades away
Ku-band: Have shorter wavelength signals that tend
to get absorbed by rain and snow clouds
DTH service providers charges Rs 3-4 Crores for a
GEC channel whereas carriage fee would amount
close to Rs 20 Crores
Bandwidth requirement:
A regular FTA channel would be 3 MHz
A GE channel-4.5 MHz
Any Sports channel-6Mhz
With compression technology /Mpeg4 format
average bandwidth per channel is reduced 1-
1.2Mhz
Bandwidth increases dramatically for HD quality
Inflow of private capital in the sector and growth of
terrestrial TV channels
Viewers will get FTA channels without having to pay any
subscription fee which otherwise is required through C&S
Adopt alternative technologies such as MMDS particularly
where cable and satellite have not penetrated
The right to receive and impart information
More choice for consumers
Possibility of enhanced coverage of local issues, events,
music and culture
Complement the public service broadcaster
Infrastructure of Doordarshan
24 Channels
(Parliament-2, National-5, International-1, Regional-11
and State-8)
64 Studio Centers
1401 transmitters
Thus in spite of a large number of transmitters,
the Studio Centers for producing programmes are
very limited. Private terrestrial television
broadcasters would complement the services of
Doordarshan by generating more content
India chose the DVB-T standard for Terrestrial
Digital Broadcasting in July 1999 after 18
months of study and testing
The state broadcaster Doordarshan started a
pilot trial in Delhi during 2002 which got
extended to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai
Started experimental transmission of digital TV
in UHF band by installing 1 KW digital
transmitters in the four metros
Each digital transmitter of Doordarshan carries
five Doordarshan channels
Hong Kong
Two commercial Terrestrial Broadcasters
controlling 4 stations in Chinese and English
Japan
More than 100 Terrestrial Broadcasters (apart
from more than 60 Satellite and Cable
Broadcasters)
Singapore
DTH is not permitted
Taiwan
5 FTA Terrestrial Television stations
Europe: Most of the European countries have taken
initiatives for the transition of analogue to digital terrestrial
TV broadcasting
Germany: Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg
is the World’s first television broadcasting area to go
completely digital (switched over exclusively to digital TV
from 4th August 2003 )
UK: Sept 1999, govt announced its plans to achieve digital
switchover. The Secretary of State said that digital
switchover could start as early as 2006 and be completed
by 2010 although the precise date would depend “on how
the broadcasters, manufacturers and consumers behave”.
Presently more than half of UK homes have digital TV
Japan: In 1998, the Ministry of Internal Affairs &
Communications (MIC) issued its time frame and plan for
full digitalization of terrestrial by 2011
Terrestrial mode of transmission of multiple
TV channels
Perceived to supplement Cable TV particularly
in remote and inaccessible areas
MMDS transmitter covers a radius between 20
and 50 km depending upon the height of
transmitting antenna
MMDS signals are normally being encrypted,
to allow the service provider to control and bill
his services
