In recent days, the news that the Budget Law currently under discussion in Parliament speaks of the possibility of having to scrap TVs which do not meet the criteria defined some time ago by the Community provisions on the redistribution of radio and television frequencies. Let's try to understand what lies behind this apparent astonishment.
In economics, the zero-sum game is rarely played out, where the participants lose or gain in equal parts and the result is equivalent. In this Law, as has always happened, there are subjects who see opportunities and others who, on the contrary, read threats. And again, as often happens, legitimate interest representation activities intervene heavily trying to add grist to their mill.
We are now dealing with that part of the Law apparently aimed at a single sector of the national production system, the telecommunications system, but substantially interested in all sectors of the national economy and culture. We refer, in particular the art. 89, where it is written of the efficient use of the spectrum and the transition to 5G and where considerable spending commitments are being made: 2500 million euros deriving from the sale of frequencies and usable by 2022.
Of this topic First online got busy at an unsuspecting moment: and precisely on that occasion the road map was clearly indicated which would guide the transition of the current digital terrestrial system, DTT, to a new model where the use of different frequencies is envisaged, the so-called DVb- T2 the second generation digital terrestrial, a technology considered "space-saving". which uses the HEVC codec. The Community provisions that gave rise to this directive, which binds all the member states, arose in relation to the need to free up resources, frequencies, in favor of the diffusion of new technologies useful for productive development, in particular 5G, now seen and perceived as the panacea for all problems.
TVS ALREADY ON SALE WITH THE NEW STANDARD
Now it happens that, suddenly, despite the fact that everything has long been known to everyone, it almost seems a surprise to have to read that a large part of the entire distribution and reception chain of radio and television signals will have to be replaced or updated in a given time and calendar. The plan also provides for the complete reform of numbering, the so-called Lcn which is still the subject of litigation, which indicates the position on the remote control of the various networks. The bottom line is that more than 90% of televisions currently in Italian homes - according to some estimates - will not be able to receive the new broadcasts and will require an additional decoder or the replacement of the entire device.
In the afternoon of last Wednesday, the Mise had to hurry to clarify, as far as consumers are mainly concerned, that the replacement of televisions or the integration with a new television decoder will take place in specific times: "The switch off with the release of the 700Mhz band will take place with a transition of two years, from 2020 to 2022, even if the government started the process already last year when it predicted that from 2017 January 2 the marketing of exclusively televisions with TXNUMX-HEVC technology would be mandatory in order to start the natural replacement of the devices well in advance.”
In this way we wanted to reassure those who already glimpsed the need to buy a new TV, perhaps just a few years after buying the previous one. In fact, the average period of obsolescence - estimated at five years - of a reception device should well cover the scope of application of the Brussels provisions and therefore consumers (with their associations already on a war footing) can rest assured. With all due respect to everyone, for this aspect, apparently, the game is zero-sum: everyone wins. It therefore remains somewhat mysterious because a mutation in progress well known to all, broadcasters and TLC operators, was read with great surprise, largely unjustified.
NEW PROBLEMS FOR RAI
Instead, to carefully read what is written in the art. 89, we can glimpse areas of conflicts that are not easily remediable for the interests of the various subjects in the field and that deserve some attention. First of all, the first of these: Rai. Just these days the new service contract is being defined (currently under surveillance) and one of the crucial points of its effectiveness is the relationship between costs and services required of the public radio and television service (new channels, greater impulse to digital, etc.) where the former are high and the resources to draw on are scarce . In terms of the new Law, it is clear that costs for the modernization and updating of the systems will be transferred to Rai against very limited investment availability. To go back to the known laws of physics, where it is assumed that the vacuum does not exist, when a space is left free, others use it. Attention: it is not just a question of the power of the systems, the height of the towers, the redistribution of transmitters on the territory in order to guarantee 100% coverage of the territory, but rather the role, essence and primordial nature of the public radio and television service.
The latter, notoriously, represents in a prevalent and evident way that modality of use of television commonly defined as "linear" while in the panorama of the audiovisual offer the one defined as "non-linear" is progressively asserting itself, i.e. the one where the contents can be used in times and personalized methods and, possibly, for a fee.
ON THE BATTLEFIELD ALSO THE GIANTS OF THE WEB
On the horizon of this revolution of the airwaves, therefore, this appears to be the real battlefield where the contenders are on the one hand traditional broadcasters such as Rai, Mediaset and La7; on the other hand, Tlc operators see, also through the use of the new frequencies left free with the new division, a greater capacity and better quality of audiovisual products. But also for Vodafone, Tim, Wind3 or Fastweb new scenarios open up. "The enemy is at the door, the various Amazon, Netflix or Apple TV are around the corner” argue those who fear the advent of new transmission technology. The legitimate question to ask therefore is not so much whether and how users will be forced to purchase a new TV, sooner or later, but rather whether or not the development of 5G benefits which models of use of television.
