KDG confirms DVB-C2 plans

DVB World 2010 – Lisbon: Christoph Schaaf, the chair of the DVB-C2 technical module and head of new technologies at Kabel Deutschland, has said the cabler plans to use the new DVB-C2 transmission system for on demand and high definition services. Similar to its terrestrial and satellite counterparts, DVB-C2 allows bandwidth savings of at least 30% when compared to the 15-year old DVB-C used today by digital cable platforms. Twelve HDTV services can be fitted into an 8 MHz channel, a 100% gain between MPEG-4 and MPEG-2.

“The most attractive application to migrate is personalised services,” Schaaf told the annual gathering of the DVB in Lisbon. “As a cable operator KDG has taken the decision to introduce DVB-C2 to our consumer devices as soon as chipsets are available”. Schaaf said he anticipated the introduction of new tiers that would exclusively run on the DVB-C2 system, though he admitted the market would require some stimulation, potentially by European MSOs purchasing only DVB-C2 compatible devices. “Consumer electronics manufacturers see a big market potential, but it’s a real challenge. Today we are in a position where they are already a commodity item. A customer going to a store to purchase a new TV will find they are all Cable Ready and if we can achieve this with the next generation we will have made real progress”.

However, John Adam, head of business development, Samsung said it would be difficult for manufacturers to immediately integrate the new technologies. “The problem has been solved for DVB-T and -C, having solved that problem we now face very sophisticated technology to implement in C2 and T2, so it would be a brave man to stand up and say when we will have the same for T2 and C2. It depends on cable telling us where their roadmap is.”

Kabel Deutschland is currently taking to vendors about suitable prototypes and anticipates the first samples to be made available in the fourth quarter. Unity Media is said to be pursuing a similar strategy. Both operators were among the nine European cablenets that gave their support at a DVB press conference at IBC 2009.

The ETSI voting process on the standardization of DVB-C2 has now been completed and approval is now just weeks away.