Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial (ISDB-T)

Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial (ISDB-T) is the most

advanced international standard on Digital Terrestrial Television
Broadcasting (DTTB) system originally developed in Japan. It is the Japanese
standard for the transmission of digital television over-the-air (terrestrial). ISDB-T
has been introduced in Japan since December 2003, and the number of the
countries adopting ISDB-T is gradually increasing with the recognition of its
technological advantage. Countries including
Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, CostaRica, Paraguay, Philipp
ines,Bolivia, Nicaragua and Uruguay, based on the Japanese ISDB-T standard.
ISDB-T International launched into commercial operation on December 2, 2007,
in So Paulo, Brazil, as SBTVD

History of ISDB-T
HDTV was invented at NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (Japan
Broadcasting Corporation's Science & Technical Research Laboratories). The
research for HDTV started as early as the 1960s, though a standard was proposed
to the ITU-R (CCIR) only in 1973.
By the 1980s, a high definition television camera, cathode-ray tube, video tape
recorder and editing equipment, among others, had been developed. In 1982 NHK
developed MUSE (Multiple sub-nyquist sampling Encoding), the first HDTV
video compression and transmission system. MUSE used digital video
compression, but for transmission frequency modulation was used after a digital-
to-analog converter converted the digital signal.
In 1987, NHK demonstrated MUSE in Washington D.C. and NAB. The
demonstration made a great impression in the U.S. As a result, the U.S. developed
its own ATSC terrestrial DTV system. Europe also developed their own DTV
system called DVB. Japan began R&D of a completely digital system in the 1980s
that led to ISDB. Japan began terrestrial digital broadcasting, using ISDB-T
standard by NHK and commercial broadcasting stations, on 1 December 2003.
The history of SBTVD development can be divided in two major periods: a) Initial
Studies and Tests; b) Implementation of Digital TV Work Group and final
definition of SBTVD standard.
Since 1994 a group composed of technicians from Brazilian Society for Television
Engineering (SET) and Brazilian Association of Radio and Television
Broadcasters (ABERT) has been analyzing existing digital TV standards
(American ATSC, European DVB-T and Japanese ISDB-T) and its technical
aspects but the discussion become a robust study only in 1998.
From 1998 to 2000, the ABERT and SET group, supported by Universidade
Presbiteriana Mackenzie developed a very complete study based on several tests
considering not only technical characteristics of each standard but also signal
quality, both indoor and outdoor. That was the first complete study comparing all
three major DTV standards in the world by an independent entity (i.e. without
influence of the ATSC Committee, DVB Group or ARIB/DiBEG Group) and it
was considered a very rigorous and robust study by the DTV technical world
community.
[citation needed]

The results of the "Brazilian digital television tests" showed the insufficient quality
for indoor reception presented by ATSC (that is a very important parameter
because 47% of television sets in Brazil use only an internal antenna) and, between
DVB-T and ISDB-T, the last one presented superior performance in indoor
reception and flexibility to access digital services and TV programs through non-
mobile, mobile or portable receivers with impressive quality.
[4]

In parallel in 1998, the Brazilian Ministry of Communication ordered the National
Telecommunication Agency to carry on studies to select and implement a DTV
standard in Brazil. Due to the completeness and quality of the
ABERT/SET/Mackenzie study, ANATEL considered that as the official result and
supported it considering ISDB-T the better standard to be implemented in Brazil.
However the final decision about the standard selected wasn't announced at that
moment (August 2000) because of three main points, 1.)Some groups of society
wanted to be more involved in that decision; 2.) The ATSC Committee and DVB
Group wanted to review the ABERT/SET/Mackenzie report and ANATEL
decision; 3.)Political discussions brought new requirements for the standard to be
implemented in Brazil, such as digital inclusion and e-gov dissemination.
In the light of those points, the Brazilian Government, created a more structured
discussion group, to review the first studies and to address these new points.
The program SBTVD program was deployed on November 26, 2003 by
Presidential Act # 4.901, focusing the creation of a reference model for national
terrestrial digital TV in Brazil.
[5]

The National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) was charged by the
Brazilian Ministry of Communications to lead this work with the technical support
of CPqD, and the contributions of 10 other Brazilian ministries, the National
Institute for Information Technology (ITI), 25 organizations related to the matter
(broadcast professionals, broadcast companies, TV program producers, etc.), and
75 universities/R&D institutes and electro-electronic manufacturers. More than
1,200 researchers/professionals were mobilized.

Just for the Consultant Committee, 20 public RFP (Request for Proposal) were
published trying to cover all areas that compose digital TV: Modulation, Signal
Processing/Compression, video systems, audio systems, data transport,
middleware, etc. The RFPs strongly reinforced the creation of research networks
where the studies could be carried in a decentralized manner by several institutes
working together.
Some groups worked to present a totally new digital standard, some groups worked
to analyze and select the most known digital TV standards (American ATSC,
European DVB-T and Japanese ISDB-T), and other groups worked to implement
new features/modules to these already known standards.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ISDB-T
ISDB-T has the following characteristics, 1)Single digital channel high-definition
TV (HDTV) or about three digital standard definition TV channels can be
combined in a 6 MHz "analogue TV channel". 2.)Other multimedia services and
sound broadcasting services can be provided. 3. )Part of the data rate can be used
for mobile reception of video, audio or data services.4.)Building up Single
Frequency Networks (SFN) is possible to make more efficient use of radio
frequencies.
Features of ISDB-T
ISDB-T is characterized by the following features:
ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial) in Japan
use UHF 470 MHz-770 MHz, bandwidth of 300 MHz, allocate 50 channels,
namely ch.13-ch.62, each channel is 6 MHz width (actually 5.572 MHz
effective bandwidth and 430 kHz guard band between channels). These
channels are called "physical channel()". For other countries,
US channel table or European channel table are used.
For channel tables with 6 MHz width, ISDB-T single channel bandwidths
5.572 MHz has number of carriers 5,617 with interval of 0.99206 kHz. For
7 MHz channel, channel bandwidth is 6.50 MHz; for 8 MHz 7.42 MHz.
ISDB-T allows to accommodate any combination of HDTV (roughly 8Mbit/s in
H.264) and SDTV (roughly 2Mbit/s in H.264) within the given bitrate
determined by the transmission parameters such as bandwidth, code-rate, guard
interval, etc. Typically, among the 13 segments, the center segment is used
for 1seg with QPSK modulation and the remaining 12 segments for the HDTV
or SDTV payloads for 64QAM modulation. The bitstream of the 12 segments
are combined into one transport stream, within which any combination of
programs can be carried based on the MPEG-2 transport stream definition.
ISDB-T transmits a HDTV channel and a mobile TV channel 1seg within one
channel. 1seg is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video broadcasting service in
Japan. Although 1seg is designed for mobile usage, reception is sometimes
problematic in moving vehicles. Because of reception on high speed
vehicle, UHF transmission is shaded by buildings and hills frequently, but
reported well receiving in Shinkansen as far as run in flat or rural area.
ISDB-T provides interactive services with data broadcasting. Such
as Electronic Program Guides. ISDB-T supports internet access as a return
channel that works to support the data broadcasting. Internet access is also
provided on mobile phones.
ISDB-T provides Single Frequency Network (SFN) and on-channel
repeater technology. SFN makes efficient utilization of the frequency resource
(spectrum). For example, the Kanto area (greater Tokyo area including most
part of Tokyo prefecture and some part of Chiba, Ibaragi, Tochigi, Saitama and
Kanagawa prefecture) are covered with SFN with roughly 10 million
population coverage.
ISDB-T can be received indoors with a simple indoor antenna.
ISDB-T provides robustness to multipath interference ("ghosting"), co-channel
analog television interference, and electromagnetic interferences that come
from motor vehicles and power lines in urban environments.
ISDB-T is claimed to allow HDTV to be received on moving vehicles at over
100 km/h (this has not yet been proven in real-world operation); DVB-T can
only receive SDTV on moving vehicles, and it is claimed that ATSC can not be
received on moving vehicles at all (however, in early 2007 there were reports of
successful reception of ATSC on laptops using USB tuners in moving
vehicles).

Just as the European DVB-T standard, ISDB-T is based on the transmission
ofMPEG-2 compressed video data containers. These data containers can be used
to transmit a flexible mixture of compressed video, audio and other data services.
The transmission itself is based on OFDM to have resistance to interference by
multipath radio waves (echoes).
Unlike DVB-T though, low power mobile reception was built into ISDB-T from
the beginning. ISDB-T divides the transmission channel in 13 segments. Each
segment consists of an OFDM block. The transmission parameters such as the
modulation scheme (QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM) and error-correction can be
specified on a segment-by-segment base. The central segment can be used to
deliver low data rate services to a dedicated single segment (ISDB-Tss) portable
receiver whilst on the move. A dedicated single segment receiver can be much
smaller and has a much lower power consumption than a full-blown receiver. This
makes it possible to integrate a single segment receiver in a mobile phone and
other handheld portable devices.
ISDB-T has a transport capacity of 280.85 kbps to 1.7873 Mbps per segment for
information in a 6MHz channel, giving a total data rate of 3.651 - 23.234 Mbps. In
a 7 or 8 MHz channel, the total data rate is respectively 4.259-27.107 Mbps and
4.868-30.979 Mbps.
ISDB-T International is also called ISDB-Tb (ISDB-T Japanese standard,
Brazilian version) and basically differs from original ISDB-T by
using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC as a video compression standard (ISDB-T
usesH.262/MPEG-2 Part 2), a presentation rate of 30 frames per second even in
portable devices (ISDB-T, One seg, uses 15 frame/s for portable devices) and
powerful interaction using middlewareGinga, composed by Ginga-
NCL andGinga-J modules (ISDB-T uses BML).

The ISDB-T International standard was developed as SBTVD by a study group
coordinated by the Brazilian Ministry of Communications and was led by the
Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) with support from the
Telecommunication's Research and Development Centre (CPqD). The study group
was composed of members of ten other Brazilian ministries, the National Institute
for Information Technology (ITI), several Brazilian universities, broadcast
professional organizations, and manufacturers of broadcast/reception devices. The
objective of the group was to develop and implement a DTV (Digital TV) standard
in Brazil, addressing not only technical and economical issues, but also and mainly
mitigating the digital divide, that is, to promote inclusion of those living apart from
today's information society. Another goal was to enable access to e-government,
i.e. to make government closer to the population, since in Brazil 95.1% of
households have at least one TV set.
[2]

In January 2009, the Brazilian-Japanese study group for digital TV finished and
published a specification document joining the Japanese ISDB-T with Brazilian
SBTVD, resulting in a specification now called "ISDB-T International". ISDB-T
International is the system that is proposed by Japan and Brazil for use in other
countries in South America and around the world.
[3]

Adoption of ISDB-T
ISDB-T was adopted for commercial transmissions in Japan in December 2003. It
currently comprises a market of about 100 million television sets. ISDB-T had 10
million subscribers by the end of April 2005. Along with the wide use of ISDB-T,
the price of receivers is getting low. The price of ISDB-T STB in the lower end of
the market is 19800 as of 19 April 2006.
[18]
By November 2007 only a few older,
low-end STB models could be found in the Japanese market (average price
U$180), showing a tendency towards replacement by mid to high-end equipment
like PVRs and TV sets with inbuilt tuners. In November 2009, a retail
chain AEON introduced STB in 40 USD,
[19]
followed by variety of low-cost
tuners. The Dibeg web page confirms this tendency by showing low significance of
the digital tuner STB market in Japan.
[20]

Brazil, which currently uses an analogue TV system (PAL-M) that slightly differs
from any other countries, has chosen ISDB-T as a base for its DTV format, calling
it ISDB-Tb orinternally SBTVD (Sistema Brasileiro de Televiso Digital-
Terrestre). The Japanese DiBEG group incorporated the advancements made by
Brazil -MPEG4 video codec instead of ISDB-T's MPEG2 and a powerful
interaction middleware called Ginga- and has renamed the standard to "ISDB-T
International".
[21]
Other than Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Ecuador
[22]
which
have already selected ISDB-Tb, there are other South American countries, mainly
from Mercosur, such as Venezuela,
[23]
that are considering ISDB-Tb, which could
provide economies of scale and common market benefits from the regional South
American manufacturing instead of importing ready-made STBs as is the case with
the other standards. Also, it has been confirmed with extensive tests realized by
Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (ABERT), Brazilian
Television Engineering Society (SET) and Universidade Presbiteriana
Mackenzie the insufficient quality for indoor reception presented by ATSC and,
between DVB-T and ISDB-T, the latter presented superior performance in indoor
reception and flexibility to access digital services and TV programs through non-
mobile, mobile or portable receivers with impressive quality.
[24]

The ABERTSET group in Brazil did system comparison tests of DTV under the
supervision of the CPqD foundation. The comparison tests were done under the
direction of a work group of SET and ABERT. The ABERT/SET group selected
ISDB-T as the best choice in digital broadcasting modulation systems among
ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T.
[citation needed]
Another study found that ISDB-T and
DVB-T performed similarly, and that both were outperformed by DVB-T2.
[25]

ISDB-T was singled out as the most flexible of all for meeting the needs of
mobility and portability. It is most efficient for mobile and portable reception. On
June 29, 2006, Brazil announced ISDB-T-based SBTVD as the chosen standard for
digital TV transmissions, to be fully implemented by 2016. By November 2007
(one month prior DTTV launch), a few suppliers started to announce zapper STBs
of the new Nippon-Brazilian SBTVD-T standard, at that time without interactivity.
The implementation rollout in Brazil is proceeding successfully although some
voice like Philips' say
[26]
that its implementation could be faster. It terms of
broadcasting, the implementation plan seems to be on target. In only eight months
since the start, the digital signal is present in four state capitals and by the end of
2008 another three capitals will receive the signal. In terms of end-customers the
implementation could be better, since at the moment it is estimated
[by whom?]
only
20,000 set-top boxes have been sold. Part of this low sales number can be
explained by the prices that in the beginning ranged from BRL 600 to BRL 1,100.
However, recently new set-top boxes were launched in market at R$300 (approx
US$ 150) that will probably increase set-top box sales. Another reason to explain
low sales level is the interactivity service not available yet. That is because the
"middleware" developed by Brazilian universities (PUC Rio and Federal
University of Paraiba) was finished in October 2008. It is expected
[by whom?]
the
interactivity will be a strong appeal bringing more and more people to digital TV
world.
Additionally, mobile TV started successfully with the launch of Samsung and
Toshiba cell phones with ISDB-T "one-seg" tuners. Its main appeal is that the
service is free. That is a very impressive accomplishment in a short period since
Brazil launched its digital mobile TV for free. In other countries such
accomplishment occurred years later, and in others like the U.S. and Europe this is
far from reality and probably won't be for free
[citation needed]
.
[27]
Subscription mobile
TV in Germany using DVB-H has been dubbed "a failure".
[27]
In Italy the cost of
receiving mobile TV over DVB-H costs the user 9.90 per month just for the basic
channel package.
[28]


Adoption by country
This lists the countries who adopted the ISDB-T standard, chronologically
arranged.
On April 23, 2009, Peru announced its decision to adopt ISDB-T as the digital
terrestrial television standard. This decision was taken on the basis of the
recommendations by the Multi-sectional Commission to assess the most
appropriate standard for the country.
On August 28, 2009, Argentina officially adopted the ISDB-T system
[29]
calling
it internally SATVD-T (Sistema Argentino de Televisin Digital - Terrestre).
[30]

On September 14, 2009, Chile announced it was adopting the ISDB-T standard
because it adapts better to the geographical makeup of the country, while
allowing signal reception in cell phones, high-definition content delivery and a
wider variety of channels.
[22]

On October 6, 2009, Venezuela officially adopted the ISDB-T standard.
[31][32]

On March 26, 2010, Ecuador announced its decision to adopt ISDB-T standard.
This decision was taken on the basis of the recommendations by the
Superintendent of Telecommunications.
[33]

On April 29, 2010, Costa Rica officially announced the adoption of ISDB-Tb
standard based upon a commission in charge of analyzing which protocol to
accept.
[34]

On June 1, 2010, Paraguay officially adopted ISDB-T International, via a
presidential decree #4483.
[35]

On June 11, 2010, the National Telecommunications Commission of the
Philippines officially adopted the ISDB-T standard.
[36]

On July 6, 2010, Bolivia announced its decision to adopt ISDB-T standard as
well.
On December 27, 2010, the Uruguayan Government adopts ISDB-T
standard.,
[37]
voiding a previous 2007 decree which adopted the European DVB
system.
On November 15, 2011, the Maldivian Government adopts ISDB-T
standard.
[4]
As the first country in the region that use European channel table
and 1 channel bandwidth is 8 MHz.

ISDB-T in the Philippines
In the Philippines, digital television broadcasts can be received through digital
cable and direct broadcast satellite. Digital terrestrial television (DTT) services are
in development by the major broadcasting companies of the Philippines.
The Philippines was using the American NTSC standard for analog television.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) announced in June 2010
that the Philippines would use the Japanese ISDB-T standard for digital television,
and issued a circular stating that the country's broadcasters must discontinue their
analog services by the transition deadline of 11:59 p.m. (Philippine Standard
Time, UTC+8) on December 31, 2015. The commission will be using the ultra-
high frequency television channels from 14 to 51 (470-698MHz) for DTT
broadcast service and deliberating channels 14 to 20 (470-512 MHz) which is
being used for fixed and mobile services.
[1]
However, before the announcement,
several broadcasters performed trial broadcasts using the European DVB-
T standard.
Preparation for the transition to digital television commenced with an issuance of
Executive Order 546, series of 1979 and Republic Act 3846 or the Radio Control
Law as amended by the local governing body for broadcast services, the NTC
adopted the said order to promulgate rules and regulations in order to facilitate the
entry of digital broadcast services in the Philippines and implement a specific
standard for the delivery of DTT services. Subsequently organizing two technical
working groups for the purpose of directing the governing body in the selection of
appropriate DTT standard and upon the commendation of investors in the
broadcast business, comprising the local broadcasters group, the Kapisanan ng mga
Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, and the NTC, issued Memorandum Circular 02-06-2010
on June 11, 2010 implementing the standard for digital terrestrial television
broadcast service.
Since the early 2000s, studies have been carried out on the country's digital
television transition. A wait and see plan is being trailed and examining
progresses with no resolution to ensue with digital television services in the
Philippines.
[3]
The NTC chose to use the Japanese standard ISDB-T for digital
television in the country in Memorandum Circular 02-06-2010, noting its
capability to 3 levels of categorized modulation (audio, video and data services) to
fixed, portable and handheld devices exclusive of the necessity for a
supplementary communication facility.
[4]

In the draft version of the NTC's proposed regulations for DTV, broadcast
companies who intend to provide digital terrestrial television service must have a
congressional broadcast franchise before operating such services and have at least
15 television stations throughout the Philippines; have a minimum paid-up capital
of1 billion and accessible locally in 10 regions while broadcasting companies
with less than the required television stations and availability locally, the minimum
paid-up capital will be 1.2 billion, whereas new applicants with no present
broadcast station, the paid-up capital will be 1.5 billion. For those broadcast
companies who intend to delivery digital broadcast locally, must procure a
congressional franchise and have at least 60 million per digital terrestrial
television station. Concurring to the commission, the outline of digital technology
in the broadcasting service would guarantee the effectiveness of the broadcast
business and provide them the prospect to offer superior facilities to end-user. The
draft outline as an enactment of the digital technology in the television broadcast is
intended to provide greater number of channels, better screen resolution and stereo
sounds through a conventional aerial antenna instead of a satellite or cable TV
service.
Initially, the commission adopted the European standard DVB-T for digital
broadcasting. The broadcast providers adopt either high-definition
television format or its standard definition multiprogramming. The draft IRR also
states that a duly broadcast provider with a congressional franchise will deliver
analog television service and must carry its present analog television programs
through its digital terrestrial television service. For digital broadcast provider
aiming to offer pay-per-view or restricted access will be required to seek additional
permission from the commission. Supplementary services may be permissible,
subject to prevailing decrees, acts and laws. The draft rules equally specify the
commission shall continue to process new applications for analog television
stations up to December 31, 2008 but will no longer approve or authorized to
broadcast beyond December 31, 2010 and all certified digital broadcast providers
will relinquish their individual analog frequencies upon the termination of its
analog television broadcast transmission by 11:59 p.m., December 31, 2015.
[5]


Deployment
Terrestrial
ABS-CBN: ABS-CBN Corporation intends to spend 1 billion pesos on its
transition to digital broadcasting. ABS-CBN announced on April 4, 2011 that it
was prepared to launch 5 free "premium" channels on a DTT platform as soon
as the NTC finalized its regulations surrounding digital television. ABS-CBN
will be using UHF channel 43 (596602 MHz) for its ISDB-T test, and channel
51 (692698 MHz), which was previously used for test broadcasts using DVB-
T. Their initial test was conducted in areas
of Valenzuela, Bulacan,Rizal, Cavite and Laguna. In November 2010, ABS-
CBN began rolling out its digital broadcast in 17 cities in Metropolitan
Manila including selected areas in Bulacan andPampanga.
[6][7]

PTV: The state broadcaster People's Television Network began DTT trials
using ISDB-T in 2009 using channel 48. In 2011, the Japanese government
donated additional equipment to the network in order to improve its digital
services. PTV 4 is also planning to operate an emergency notification
system using the digital platform.
[8][9]

ABC: ABC Development Corporation, operator of TV5 will use ISDB-T for its
DTT trials; a simulcast of DWET-TV on DWDZ-TV. Stressing the importance
of the transition, the broadcaster plans to migrate DWET-TV to digital as soon
as possible.
[10]

GMA: GMA Network, Inc. is applying for a digital television license from the
NTC to install and maintain transmitting stations that will be attuned with and
utilize to offer digital terrestrial television and digital mobile TV broadcast
services,
[11][12]
using channel 27. Areas planned for a temporary digital
broadcast will cover the cities of Quezon City,
[13]
Makati, Pasig, Tagaytay,
and Angeles in Pampanga; and areas like Ortigas, Cavite,
and Calumpit in Bulacan. GMA was vocal about the NTC's choice of DTV
standard; on March 27, 2011, a GMA executive proposed the use of the
updated European standard DVB-T2 as opposed to ISDB-T due to its better
quality. However, the NTC did not change its decision.
[14][14][15]
However after
few years they are ready to adopt the ISDB-T standard
[16]

Eagle Broadcasting Corporation: In partnership with the Christian Era
Broadcasting Service, the companies launched the first digital television station
in the country, DZCE-TV, GEMNET, in 2007. Initially broadcasting in DVB-
T, it shifted to using ISDB-T in 2009.
[17][18]

BEAM: Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, Inc., owned by a joint
consortium led by Bethlehem Holdings, Inc., an investee of Globe Telecom
Retirement Fund through its holding company HALO Holdings Inc. (which
owns 39 percent of Altimax Broadcasting Company), applied for digital
terrestrial broadcast but still vocal to the DVB-T2 digital system. The station
uses the frequency of UHF Channel 31.

Cable[edit]
SkyCable: In October 2010, SkyCable announced it would migrate at least
80% of its subscribers in Metro Manila to a digital cable platform with
new Digiboxes by 2011. SkyCable allocated 20 percent of its Php1 billion
capital expenditure in order to fund the migration. SkyCable adopted the DVB-
C standard for its digital cable system. The new platform also allowed
SkyCable to additionally introduce high definition channels to its lineup.
[19][20]

Destiny Cable: In March 2009, Destiny Cable began to offer its own digital
cable services, investing Php500 to Php700 million on headend and
infrastructure updates and the distribution of digital set-top boxes for its
subscribers.
[21][22]

Parasat Cable: Parasat Cable TV, the cable provider of Mindanao, introduced
digital cable in July 2009. It has rolled out its services to Cagayan de Oro City;
municipalities ofOpol and Tagoloan; in Malaybalay and San Carlos, Negros
Occidental; Ginoog City; municipalities of Balingasag, Don
Carlos and Valencia City, Bukidnon; and, the east and west sides of Misamis
Oriental.
[23][24]

Satellite[edit]
Cignal Digital TV: Cignal Digital TV and its parent
company MediaScape (which is owned by the PLDT) invested Php1.5 billion in
the implementation of its digital satellite TV services. Cignal uses the DVB-
S2 standard for its digital satellite platform.
[25][26]


Developments[edit]
July 2007. Television firms who plan to broadcast digital terrestrial television
services to television and other communication devices cannot implement such
as the commission is revising its guidelines on digital television programming.
However, the commission allows broadcast firms to test its system while
waiting for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR). The development
comes in light with telecom company, Smart Communications Inc. through
its MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. for its myTV service. The commission reiterates
in the absence of IRR, the telecom company cannot charge the service being
offered to its subscribers.
[27]

June 2009. In formulating the transition from analog television broadcast
to digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmission in the Philippines and to
guide the commission in outlining the planned implementing rules and
regulations for the enactment of DTT service, ultra-high frequency television
channels 14 to 51 (470-698 MHz) will be assigned to the DTT Broadcast
Service and deliberating further channels 14 to 20 (470-512 MHz) which is
being used by Fixed and Mobile Service. On June 24, 2009, the local unit of the
commission, the Frequency Management Division is assigned to formulate a
frequency allocation plan for the effective transmission of appropriate users of
channels 14 to 20.
[28]

February 2010. The Philippines is anticipated to deferment its planned analog
television signal automatic switch-off in 2015 due to technicalities in
implementing an official digital terrestrial television platform. While other
members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations cooperatively accepted the
digital video broadcasting-terrestrial or the DVB-T as its favored standard, the
Philippines have not adopted any platform.
[29]

December 2010. The governments of Japan and the Philippines reached a
collaboration decision in adopting a memorandum of cooperation resulting in
the commissions earlier pronouncement to use the Japaneses Integrated
Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial platform for digital terrestrial television
broadcast standard for the Philippines. According to the Commission on
Information and Communications Technology, the Japanese government is
keen on guiding Filipino counterpart to the technology. The Philippine
government also requested its counterpart to shoulder the cost of set-top
boxes and also deliberating in rescheduling the compulsory switchover from
analog transmission to digital broadcast from an earlier target.
[30]

February 2011. The National Telecommunications Commission plans to
implement the digital terrestrial television service in select key cities in the
Philippines in 2012. The governing body desires the transition be implemented
gradually. The technical working group has yet not classified where the
transition will take place. Key cities in the Philippines are being considered but
in the absence of an implementing rules and regulations, the digital terrestrial
television service may not be fully consummate to the viewing public. While
the transition will be made progressively, broadcasting networks can still
convey analog television service although DTT is being rationalized in other
areas. Meanwhile, the commission set an 85 percent compliance rate before it
consider terminating all analog signals for broadcast transmission.
[31][32]

March 2011. The National Telecommunications Commission asked to
reevaluate the platform to be used for the Philippines digital television
broadcast. The regulator is studying the possible implementation of a newer
platform, the European second-generation Digital Video Broadcasting-
Terrestrial (DVB-T2) substituting the Japanese Integrated Services Digital
Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) standard that the commission adopted earlier
and was the basis of creating implementing rules and regulations for digital
broadcast. Experts announced the DVB-T2 is superior to its Japanese
counterpart. Broadcasting firms, GMA Network, Inc. and TV5 conveyed their
support to reevaluate its earlier decision to adopt ISDB-T platform. The
Commission adopted the ISDB-T primarily owing in terms of affordability.
[14]

April 2011. One of Philippines broadcasting firms, ABS-CBN Corporation,
criticized the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for conveying
varied indications on the Philippines official stand on digital television
standard. The firm panned the commission on its incompetence in supporting
its initial pronouncement to implement Japanese digital television standard,
the Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T). In 2010, the
commission officially led the digital television period in the Philippines and
releases a memorandum circular agreeing to the use of ISDB-T as the standard
digital platform. But in recent developments, the commission is considering the
European digital television platform, the European Digital Video Broadcast-
Terrestrial (DVB-T). According to the commission, the European platform is
superior to its Japanese counterpart.
[33]

May 2011. Television companies in the Philippines have supported the local
governing body to reevaluate the digital television standard to be used, and the
attempt to reconsider the advancement of the Japanese technology (ISDB-T)
over the newer version of the European digital television platform.
Broadcasting companies initiated to delay the switchover provided the
technology will be used is far more advanced than the initial digital standard
adopted on June 11, 2010. GMA Network, Inc. and TV5 agreed to do
comparative tests with the European and Japanese standard. The commission is
simultaneously drafting the implementing rules and regulations for digital
terrestrial television broadcast under the Japanese platform and reviewing
the DVB-T2 European standard.
[34]

August 2011. Philippine local agency, the National Telecommunication
Commission has finalized its evaluation on the chosen standard for the digital
terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast service in the Philippines. The
commission adopted the Japans Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-
Television (ISDB-T) standards over its European counterpart, the Digital Video
Broadcasting-Television (DVB-T2).
[35][36]

October 2013. The National Telecommunication Commission reconfirmed the
recommendation to adopt the Japanese Digital Television standard as the
country's national TV standard after a public hearing.
[37]