The digital divide gets wider
Digital broadcasting is on its way. Next year, all broadcasters in the US will be required to transmit their content using digital formats, and the Polish government has required that domestic broadcasters go digital by 2015.
In April, Poland's two biggest private broadcasters, TVN and Polsat, created Polski Operator Telewizyjny (POT) with the purpose of building the terrestrial network necessary for making the transition to digital. The hope was that TVP, Poland's public broadcaster, would join the venture, creating a domestic industry standard and helping to defray costs.
TVP decided in February to not cooperate with the private stations, though earlier it had said it would. Public TV still has until the end of June to change its mind, but indications are that TVP would prefer to set up its own infrastructure, and broadcast in the cheaper mpeg-2 digital standard instead of the newer mpeg-4 standard around which POT plans to build its system. That infuriates the private stations, who believe government subsidies already give TVP a tremendous competitive edge.
"Public television must explain why it is deciding on building digital television without us, exposing us to higher costs and risking confrontation with potential aggressive competitors cropping up in the digital TV sector," Wiesław Walendziak, president of POT, told Puls Biznesu.
POT has already submitted an application to the National Radio and Television Council (KRRiT), for test-broadcasting with the mpeg-4 format in Warsaw and Łodź this September, and has plans to test the mpeg-2 format as well, hoping to prove that the mpeg-4 standard is more efficient and cheaper than its older counterpart.
In April, Poland's two biggest private broadcasters, TVN and Polsat, created Polski Operator Telewizyjny (POT) with the purpose of building the terrestrial network necessary for making the transition to digital. The hope was that TVP, Poland's public broadcaster, would join the venture, creating a domestic industry standard and helping to defray costs.
TVP decided in February to not cooperate with the private stations, though earlier it had said it would. Public TV still has until the end of June to change its mind, but indications are that TVP would prefer to set up its own infrastructure, and broadcast in the cheaper mpeg-2 digital standard instead of the newer mpeg-4 standard around which POT plans to build its system. That infuriates the private stations, who believe government subsidies already give TVP a tremendous competitive edge.
"Public television must explain why it is deciding on building digital television without us, exposing us to higher costs and risking confrontation with potential aggressive competitors cropping up in the digital TV sector," Wiesław Walendziak, president of POT, told Puls Biznesu.
POT has already submitted an application to the National Radio and Television Council (KRRiT), for test-broadcasting with the mpeg-4 format in Warsaw and Łodź this September, and has plans to test the mpeg-2 format as well, hoping to prove that the mpeg-4 standard is more efficient and cheaper than its older counterpart.
