A plenary meeting of the steering board of the Digital Terrestrial Television Action Group (DigiTAG) was held last 7 June at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) offices in Geneva, chaired by Daniel Sauvet-Goichon.
One of the key agenda points was the question of LTE interference in the 790-862 MHz band in DTT and consequently the recommendations produced by DigiTAG, which are meant to raise awareness among bodies involved in the process so that they can follow a standard for applying this technology that minimises interference in DTT services. The group was informed that there are many studies at European level regarding the development of possible interference mitigation techniques and that cable operators are also subject to interference by LTE services. It was suggested that the next European Union Council presidency (Poland, second half of 2011) should be an opportunity for the issue to be considered in the working agenda of the European Union’s Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP), which covers this matter.
Another highlight of this meeting was presentation of the work carried out by the recently-formed working group for hybrid broadcast/broadband (HBB), consisting of the document meant to be a guide for implementing hybrid television services in Europe. This group also has the main goals of identifying developments occurring in each country and of creating recommendations, if necessary, to minimise market fragmentation. The document is expected to be finished in late June.
Also presented was a study on the future of DTT, which refers among other things to the current inherent challenges of this platform, specifically potential interference from technologies such as mobile systems operating in the 800 MHz band, the so-called white space devices (equipment operating in bands that don’t require licensing) and also power line telecommunication (PLT) technology systems.
Regulation was also mentioned as being one of the areas facing important challenges, namely the analysis of future spectrum needs and preservation of the social value of the DTT platform.
The next DigiTAG steering board meeting is scheduled for this coming 26 September.
