Limiting access to new technologies...

Starting from January, US consumers who rely on over-the-air signals for the TV service will be able to apply for up to two US$ 40 coupons that can be used to off-set the cost of digital-to-analogue converter boxes (or set-top boxes, as they're known elsewhere). These will allow consumers to continue using their old TV sets after analogue switch-off, which is due to happen in February 2009.

I've been reading through some of the information about the coupon program on the NTIA website, and I can't helping finding the whole philosophy behind the scheme to be somewhat twisted. There's a section of the site aimed at manufacturers who want to produce boxes that can be certified as qualifying under the coupon program, including a set of criteria (PDF) that can disqualify a box from being eligible. The general message seems to be that the coupons can only be used against the most basic of boxes - in other words, if you can't afford to equip yourself for the digital TV revolution, you're not entitled to have the latest technology. Features that disqualify a set-top box from the coupon program include not just high value-added things like a DVD drive, a hard disc or even a VCR, but also such basic features as VGA output, DVI output, YPbPr component video output, or HDMI. (One wonders what was the thinking behind putting in place these criteria?)

Contrast this to the equivalent programs in Italy and Austria where the respective governments, when DTT services were launched, used the subsidies to ensure that consumers could benefit from a more highly specified box, specifically a box with MHP middleware along with smartcard slots (and, as far as I'm aware, no limit on what outputs the box offered). If consumers wanted to go out and buy a simple "zapper" box, with only the very basic specs, they pay for it themselves...

I wonder whether this is related to the differing DTT standards used in the USA and these two European countries. DVB-T has been so successful worldwide that basic receivers are so cheap as to not require a subsidy. (e.g. more than 8 million receivers sold in France since launch in 2005). In the USA, where ATSC holds sway, the majority of receivers sold can be accounted for by the mandate that requires all new TVs to have an integrated tuner (which many or most people don't even use) - there isn't really a market for converter boxes, or set-top boxes. (I've been unable to come by any real information about what the price point will be for these boxes yet.)

The moral of the story: if you have a big population of analogue TV sets and you want your citizens to have the best technology at the cheapest price, you're probably better off with DVB-T.

ATSC license fees released

The licensing fee for ATSC receivers will be US$5 per unit. Up to now it has been impossible to know what license fees would be payable by manufacturers to the holders of essential technology patents in the ATSC system. This has been in contrast to situation for DVB-T where a patent pool has been in existence for some years now, with the maximum cost per receiver set at around $1 ( i.e. a maximum of 0.75 EUR).

This could all be very significant for Latin America, where the costs of receivers, and specifically set-top boxes, will be a crucial factor. When we talk about a STB costing in or around $30-$50, the difference between $5 per box and $1 per box in licensing fees becomes quite significant.

http://www.mpegla.com/atsc/atsc-agreement.cfm

ATSC prices falling - but DVB-T still cheaper

If this post from dtvfacts.com is anything to go by, the newest low-end ATSC set-top boxes (or converter boxes, the term that's used in the US) will be priced at US $60-70. This is indeed quite cheap, but it's still 30% more expensive than the cheapest DVB-T boxes.

It seems the US government will try to push take-up of DTT through the use of a coupon scheme, whereby all consumers will be able to apply for a US$ 40 voucher that they can redeem against an approved list of products sold at an approved list of retailers. The same website includes a detailed explanation of how that scheme will work.

ATSC Tuners

As a result of the tuner mandate the USA, most new TVs come with a built-in ATSC tuner. This makes it hard to make like for like comparisons between the prices of DTT receivers in the US, compared to, say, Europe. There doesn't seem to be a big market for standalone ATSC receivers, so perhaps price comparisons aren't really worthwhile anyway.

Still, I did a bit of searching to find prices and it seems to me that a basic ATSC set-top box is coming in at around US$ 80 - 90. Try this box from Kworld, for example.

I'll look at this a bit more in the coming weeks and maybe try comparing the prices of TVs with integrated digital tuners.

There's no doubt, however, that the stand alone set-top box seems, currently at least, to be more popular for DVB-T than for ATSC. Of course this has an impact on the prices for such devices, pushing them down all the time.