The consumer may only receive interactive information if negotiations between the network operator and public service broadcaster are commercially successful But the challenges remain for public broadcasters m the delivery o f television content with little commercial value According to Clancy cif I [as a public service broadcaster] want to use your network for free, I don’t know how we settle it because I do believe that a lot of what has to be done has no commercial return How do you get them [network operators]
to buy into the fact that you’re going to use the same resources for free on one hand but for money on the other’ Open access to the return channel on all digital transmission networks is needed to give universal access to public multiplex broadcasting service
While the Broadcasting Bill (1999) allows broadcasters to carry unlimited amounts o f datacasting services over their networks, this only allows for one-way interactive services, like electronic programme guides and digital teletext This restnction will prevent the terrestrial multiplex from providing a wide scope o f telecommunications services under the digital terrestrial multiple licence (Broadcasting Bill, 1999) At the same time, it will provide a significant advantage to the cable and fixed line operators These networks are licensed to offer unrestricted data carnage delivery for their telephony, multichannel and asymmetrical interactive television services
The ODTR believes that there are two separate forms o f interactivity within digital broadcasting These forms should be individually licensed The ODTR has decided that linear interactive content, linked around the broadcast programme, does not require any form o f regulation for the terrestrial network For Thom (ODTR) such interactivity includes, ‘ game shows, any data carried with game shows, any alternative camera shots, player profile earned with sports, [anything] that’s programme related so you can have as much [as that] as you like What we’re doing is enhancing the real interactivity, the cross over between broadcasting and Web services’ For example, if an education programme is broadcast over the terrestnal network and the data required to carry diagrams and exercises comes over the data stream, there will be no restnctions to the amount o f data that can be carried The interactive service is part o f the broadcast programme
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While the Broadcasting Bill (1999) allows the multiplex operator to carry linear interactive television channels, the range o f asymmetrical and telecommunication services provided on the broadcast channel will be limited (ODTR, 1999) The ODTR (1999a) believes that no more than 10 to 15 per cent o f each terrestrial multiplex should go to non-broadcasting services If the digital broadcaster provides two-way digital media services, then a separate telecommunications licence will be needed For example, the supply o f asymmetrical, non-programme related services beyond the 15 per cent
restriction level, such as the World Wide Web, would require a telephony licence These interactive services are not part o f the broadcast programme and therefore are regarded as a second form o f interactivity on the digital terrestrial network
Consequently the terrestrial Multiplex operator would need to apply for extra broadcast spectrum m a manner similar to mobile telephony operators The license would be
awarded on a competitive basis and under European telecommunications agreements The ODTR and European Commission both support this regulatory position According to the current Director-General o f the Information Society, ‘there should not be special
privileges for digital terrestrial television that would disadvantage other delivery
mechanisms able to carry similar services’ (Argyris, 2000 4) This means that the judging procedure for a terrestrial return channel would need to reflect the ODTR’s non-
discnmmatory and neutral regulatory approach on all distribution systems For the ODTR, there should be no regulatory difference between the licensing o f a UMTS service and a digital terrestrial television return channel over this scarce natural resource
According to Thom (O D T R ),4we can’t gift or guarantee that frequency to the [service provider], it has to be auctioned or a beauty contest has to be done so, needless to say, you can see how a dedicated data multiplex wouldn’t fit into the government plan
because the government would be asking us to do something illegal by assigning that to RTE without having a [fair and transparent] competition of some sort for it’83 The use of extra radio spectrum for an interactive terrestrial return channel would require a decision
O D T R R e g u l a t i o n
83 In conversation with Dave Thom, Broadcast Regulator, ODTR, October, 2000
G A
at World Radiocommunications Conferences (WRC) The licensing o f a terrestrial return path would rest with frequency replanning considerations that are drafted on a WRC basis The next meeting occurs in 2004 when a decision will be made on the allocation o f radio spectrum space for a terrestrial return channel Following their
approval, the technology used by the return channel would need to be standardised by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) When these procedures are finalised, the national regulatory authority will license this telecommunications service as part o f the digital terrestrial broadcasting system [See Figure 17]
According to the spokesperson from the Department o f Public Enterprise, there will be a commercial battle between mobile telephony companies, looking to expand their UMTS services, and multiplex broadcaster’s wanting to have their own return channel for interactive television content But until the frequency spectrum is made available to multiplex companies, the terrestrial broadcaster will depend on the fixed line network operator, namely Eircom, to deliver asymmetrical content to the viewer
Multiplex access to the Fixed Line Network
The Irish Association o f Licensed Telecommunications Operators (ALTO) (2000) believes that the development o f digital services, like R T E ’s interactive television content, has been impeded by the monopoly control o f the local loop by the incumbent fixed line operator85 Privatisation o f the fixed line network did not force the network operator to branch out into the provision o f high-speed Internet and television services to the residential market Thus, ALTO (2000) called on Eircom to open up their local loop network as the last phase m the complete liberalisation of the telecommunication market The local loop is the last physical connection from the local telephone exchange to the