European Broadcasters’ view on 
Spectrum policy

 40% of European households use terrestrial television. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is the fastest growing digital television platform in many European countries. It cannot easily be substituted by other delivery systems (cable, satellite, broadband).

 Interference is not a trivial problem. Interference occurs, in particular, when broadcasting and two-way mobile services (e.g. mobile telephony) are delivered within the same bands. Viewers and listeners who have invested in digital equipment must be guaranteed stable reception and high-quality sound and video.

 It is anticipated that by 2010 there will be over 120 High Definition TV channels in Europe. Consumers will expect HD to be offered on all platforms, including DTT. Since HD requires more bandwidth than standard DTT it needs significantly more spectrum; the digital dividend must be used to secure HDTV in DTT.

 UHF bands can only offer a limited transmission capacity  for wireless broadband services, insufficient to meet the continuously growing demand for content and usage time. It would be impossible for a live event of great public interest to be followed by many broadband users at the same time. This second-class broadband access would create a new digital divide. 

 DTT helps to avoid the digital divide. Digital broadcasting networks are superior to other platforms in delivering data-intensive audiovisual content to a wide audience.

 Spectrum policy with regard to broadcasting should reflect national media and audiovisual policies. While better cooperation on spectrum policy between Member States could lead to more efficient use of spectrum, it is very difficult to harmonize the use of the digital dividend at the European level. 

 As many countries have already embarked on projects to offer DTT based on the internationally agreed Geneva frequency plan, costly and time-consuming re-planning would be necessary and switch-over to digital would be delayed.

 Spectrum policy changes could threaten broadcasters ability to invest in original European programming.

More EBU documents on the 
2007 Telecom Review:

Spectrum video 

Where has my picture gone? 

What could happen if any Digital Dividend is spent unwisely...

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