IP: Murdoch and Digital TV

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 13:14:14 +0000
To: farber () central cis upenn edu
From: Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk (Brian Randell)


Dave:


Here are some brief excerpts from a lengthy article by Henry Porter that
appeared in yesterday's Guardian newspaper here in the UK.


Cheers


Brian


========


"The Keeper of the Global Gate"


. . .


People seem simply not to grasp the implications of digital broadcasting
and the speed with which Murdoch is moving to introduce it by satellite.
They don't see how much power will accrue to this foreign national, nor
even the danger his company, News Corp, represents to what is an essential
and remarkably ill-guarded part of our culture.


. . .


To understand what is at stake and how Murdoch's empire is about to move
several gear changes you must grasp the technica] advances in TV. In a nut
shell, digital broadcasting is the transmission of high-quality TV along
frequencies previously not powerful enough to be used for TV . . .  and
this will enable, for instance, BSkyB to broadcast up to 150 different
channels simultaneously.


. . .


The more important point is that a digital broadcast does not have to go
through a satellite. It may be received by a conventional aerial and TV
set, provided the viewer has a device known as a set-top box to convert the
stream of digital information into sound and pictures.


. . .


BSkyB has announced that it will launch a digital service next year and for
this a special set-top box will be designed and marketed. Murdoch's box
will be tailored to do two things: decompress the stream of digital
information and then decode it.


. . .


Parallel to Murdoch's activity are the plans by Britain's established
broadcasters - the BBC channels, ITV stations and Channel 4 -  to develop
digital broadcasting. Remember, the digital signal may be conventionally
transmitted from a terrestrial station and all that is needed by the viewer
is a set-top box. The trouble is that Murdoch has already put out tenders
for the design and manufacture of his own box. It will be on the market
well before any equivalent device can be agreed upon by the terrestrial
broadcasters.


This is the crucial advantage he has seized. For it is highly unlikely that
the British market will accept two separate boxes for the satellite and
terrestrial digital services.


. . .


[The terrestial broadcasters] are waiting passively to see what his box
looks like and whether it can be adapted to take terrestial signals.


. . .


For a period his gateway will be the sole means of access to the new TV
technology. . . So it would seem that you have a simple race between the
satellite and terrestrial delivery digital systems in which Murdoch has a
head start. . But it is not nearly as simple as that because the BBC. and
the biggest ITV company - Granada - have signed up to be among the 150
services offered on Murdoch'.s satellite.


. . .


The box is important but in some way it is a distraction, and it seems
certain that Murdoch has realised this. What matters to him is launching
first with a range of appealing programmes. If the BBC and Granada want to
add to his portfolio, all well and good. But the main sales drive will be
made by sporting rights and movies, which were responsible for Sky's
success in Britain.


. . .


Sport is what will make Murdoch the defacto gatekeeper irrespective of what
boxes are sitting on top of our TV sets. That is the only thing you need to
understand about the launch of digital TV by Sky next year. Now that he has
his head start and a menu of programmes, there isn't really very much our
legislators can do particularly at this moment in the electoral cycle.


. . .


Dept. of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/