The 12th Central European Radiocommunication Days (CERD 2016) conference that took place in Bratislava on March 10 had two distinct themes: the impact of WRC 15 and satellite distribution.
While the former was confusing at times to follow the latter was largely focused and provided useful insights into the satellite sector, and in particular the activities of SES Astra CEE and Skylink, the leading platform in both Slovakia and Czech Republic.
WRC 15 was held late last year and crucial in many respects, with one of its main aims being to create certainty in what is a multi-trillion dollar industry. It will be followed by WRC 19 and WRC 23, and agendas for both, though especially the former, are already being formulated.
WRC 2015 tried to balance the needs, being increasingly voiced, of the mobile sector with those of broadcasting. In that respect, implied Mario Maniewicz, deputy director, Radiocommunication Bureau, ITU, it succeeded, or at least resulted in outcomes not necessarily negative for terrestrial and satellite services.
However, Stan Baaijens, steering board member at EBU Geneva and owner Funke Digital TV in the Netherlands, said he was very concerned by the lack of unity among European countries.
Meanwhile, Zsolt Nagy, strategy and business development director, Towercom, said that there were a number of outcomes of the second digital dividend (DD2), some of which should be looked at critically.
He also said that the impact of DD2 would be felt more keenly in Slovakia than most other EU countries.
Nagy spoke of the shock, financial and otherwise, Slovak consumers would experience and said that to alleviate it Towercom would be starting pilot HD broadcasts later this year on a new multiplex – the country currently has four main ones – that would also test interactive services and HEVC.
Skylink is no stranger to HD, while its partner SES Astra has made significant progress in the introduction of UHD. Both were highlighted, in factual terms, by Jaromir Glisnik, member of the board of directors, M7 Group, and both Martin Ornass-Kubacki, VP and chief regional officer, Astra CEE and Katarzyna Kubicz-Ziarek, sales manager, Astra CEE.
Skylink seems to go from strength to strength and will be launching an OTT service, following in the footsteps of its sister platforms in the M7 Group, in the next month or two.
Meanwhile, SES Astra predicted that UHD will become mass market in the next decade and that globally by 2025 half of all screens and STBs sold will be UHD.
