Slow take-up for DTT in Brazil

As predicted here and elsewhere, it looks like expensive receivers are ensuring that the launch of DTT services in Brazil are to blame for a very slow take-up of the new services. A report on Advanced-Television.com last week that only 10,000 households have made the switch to digital since the launch of services in Sao Paulo at the beginning of December. At this rate the analogue switch-off target date of 2016 looks amibitious.

Meanwhile, DVB-T receivers continue to fly off the shelves in Spain, France, the UK and elsewhere... Cheap receivers are a necessary pre-requisite for quick take-up of newly launched DTT services - ISDB-T (the Japanese system adopted by the Brazilians) is not synonymous with cheap set-top boxes. An average DVB-T zapper box is now selling for less than USD $40 in many markets across the world.

Brazil - Price Update

The Brazilians launched their DTT services earlier this month based on the Japanese ISDB-T system, with a few local variations (and using MPEG-4 video). Indications are that it will be some time yet before receivers reach a price that will be affordable for the masses.

For a Standard Definition box, i.e., one with MPEG-4 decoding but outputting only 480i the price seems to be around 500 BRL, which is about $280 USD.

For a High Definition box, with 720p and 1080i video output (over HDMI) the price leaps to $44o USD.

Who's using what?

I thought it might be worth taking a quick snapshot of those countries that have actually launched DTT services and those that have adopted a DTT standard.

ISDB-T - On Air
Japan
Brazil (variant system - SBTVD)

ATSC - On Air
Canada
USA
South Korea

ATSC - Adopted
Mexico
Honduras

DVB-T - On Air
Albania
Andorra
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mauritius
Namibia
Netherlands
Norway
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
Total = 31

DVB-T - Adopted
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brunei
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Cape Verde
Cyprus
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Laos
Latvia
Macedonia
Malaysia
Montenegro
Myanmar
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
Uruguay
Vietnam
Total = 31

It should also be kept in mind that all of the countries that are signatories of the Geneva '06 Agreement governing radio frequency allocations will, by definition, also use DVB-T. That's every country in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. One could place all of these countries in the DVB Adopted list, bringing the total of DVB-T countries to well over 100.

These figures are as good a reason as any for the fact that DVB-T receivers are cheaper than ATSC, ISDB-T and SBTVD receivers.

[Edited 11/12/2007 - the Brazilian system is now on air... - thanks for the comments!]

Brazilian STB to cost more than US$350

A report on a Brazil-based website quotes the president of the National Association of Manufacturers of Electronic Products as saying that the first set-top boxes to be used for terrestrial DTV in Brazil will be priced at around BRL 700, which equates to around US$ 380 or €UR 270 at today's rates. He attributes this high price to the fact that volumes will not be high enough to make prices fall - in fact, he doesn't expect prices to fall until five years after services launch.

Of course none of this should be surprising - the Brazilians chose to adopt the Japanese ISDB-T system and create their own local variant of it, called SBTVD. The Japanese system isn't used anywhere other than Japan, which means it doesn't benefit from the economies of scale that DVB-T (or even ATSC) does. (A basic DVB-T STB has been available recently for about €UR 15 in the UK!)

It looks like the average Brazilian person is going to have to postpone joining the DTV revolution until well into the next decade.

Receiver trouble in Brazil

This recent report from AdvancedTelevision.com suggests that the decision to go with a variant of the Japanese system for DTT in Brazil may not be boosting the manufacturing industry there in the way the Brazilian authorities hoped it would.

"The Brazilian Government has threatened to liberalise imports of digital TV decoders from China if Brazilian manufacturers do not succeed in meeting the December 2 deadline (when DTT broadcasts are set to initiate) and offer boxes which do not cost more than $100. The issue will be discussed this week by the Committee for the Development of the Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD). Manufacturers claim that it will be difficult to produce the set-top boxes which will permit the reception of digital TV on conventional (analogue) TV sets for less than $200. The industry has requested tax benefits that could reduce costs by up to 36 per cent. For its part, the Government says it could import equipment from China for $75."


I don't know much at this point about the prices consumers are paying in Japan for ISDB-T set-top boxes - I'll do some research and report in a future post - but a quick glance at the ISDB-T entry in Wikipedia suggests that the bottom end of the market is around 125 €UR, or US$ 165. Maybe the US$ 100 target in Brazil is a little ambitious...?