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THE WAY I SEE IT By NEVILLE WILLIAMS Broadcast television: an industry that's not sure where it's going! Looking hack over the past year, broadcast television stands out as one industry that's even more confused now than it was 12 months ago. Aggregation and redeployment to UHF isn't working out, satellite broadcasting is facing major problems, HDTV is nowhere and to cap it all, our major commercial networks appear to be strapped for cash. For this December issue, I had planned to pursue the theme "89 The Year That Was", revisiting subjects that had been raised during the past 12 months and picking up letters and comments that had been squeezed out by pressure on space. But before I'd put finger to keyboard, events in the business world had exposed the serious financial position of Australia's commercial television networks, shifting the emphasis from expansion and gee-whiz technology to survival. ' No less to the point, inquiries about the progress of aggregation and the new UHF services in southern NSW indicated that the technical situation was in the very kind of mess that has been foreshadowed in these columns over the past 18 months - in the May, October and December 1988 issues, and again in April this year. UHF and aggregation Pursuing its long-term policy of clearing the 88-108MHz band for FM broadcasting (SILICON CHIP, May 1988), the Federal Government found itself on a course which 98 SILICON CHIP culminated, three or four years back, in their so-called "aggregation" plan. It went well beyond the original intention to redeploy services on channels 0, 3, 4, 5 and 5A to the UHF TV bands (526-582, 603-820 MHz). Now other regional VHF stations would also be transferred to UHF to make extra channels available - sufficient to accommodate the same number of services as already available in the major capitals: ABC, SBS and three commercial broadcasters. To prevent the major networks from simply absorbing the regional outlets, the Government legislated to limit their direct coverage to 60% of the total population. This left the way open for independent broadcasters to form secondary networks (aggregation) financially independent but free to affiliate with a major network for the supply of programs. Four major areas are involved at present: southern NSW, northern NSW, regional Queensland and regional Victoria, each with about one million potential viewers. Because of its proximity to Sydney and the fact that it includes channel 4 (94-l0lMHz), the Illawarra area became the first to undergo re-organisation, with the remainder of southern NSW close behind. The resulting secondary networks Prime, WIN and Capital - are affiliated respectively with networks 7, 9 and 10. From the outset, there was doubt about the limited reach and penetration of UHF transmissions, compared with those on the existing VHF band. Would UHF/aggregation work out in practice? The Department of Transport & Communications (DOTC) seemed to take the view that equivalent UHF coverage could be ensured by a combination of more powerful base transmitters plus (a few) translators for shadowed areas. But while some viewers are delighted with the extra channe_ls, overall coverage of the new highpowered UHF transmitters is poor compared with their less pretentious VHF counterparts . The signals just don't penetrate many areas and are subject to serious fading in others. As I write, they're still arguing about where to locate a key translator for the Milton/Ulladulla area and those already operating are the subject of frequent complaint. One low-power installation is reportedly so ineffective that a viewer who can see the mast from his back porch can't receive the signal! According to Jim Yalden, an experienced serviceman and my main contact in the Illawarra region, antenna suppliers will no longer accept responsibility in areas plagued by signal fading. They'll do their best but only after warning that a signal that's here today may be gone tomorrow. Without this precaution, they'd be plagued by call-backs. Kangaroo Valley, a land-locked area behind the coastal range, is hopeless for UHF. You get a signal of sorts, says Jim, but invariably one with a maze of ghosts from the surrounding escarpments. Not only that but the signal pattern is unstable, presumably because of changing atmospheric conditions. Despite all this, we have yet to hear that "almighty hell of a scream" predicted for the day they switch off the channel 4 and 5A VHF transmitters. The reason is simply that the authorities haven't so far got around to it! Aggregation or aggravation? VHF transmissions were supposed to disappear at the start of the year; then, as rumour would have it, in March, April, June and October. The latest tip, as I write, is January 1990. Even the people at WIN-4 don't know! In the meantime, DOTC and the responsible minister are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. He/they are loath to terminate the VHF transmissions until the UHF service is in place. On the other hand, they are under pressure to get rid of WIN-4 in particular so that the re-allocation by tender of a couple of Sydney AM broadcast stations to FM can be implemented. More cautious approach Indications are that DOTC has Rlready backed away from aggregation based on all-UHF technology. According to on-the-spot 11lawarra watchers, Bateman's Bay, Bega and Eden will now be served by the existing commercial VHF translator and two new UHF translators for the additional channels. Other major areas centred on Canberra, Orange and Dubbo will retain a VHF service for the ABC and the existing commercial station, with the new commercial outlets and SBS allocated to UHF. Mixed aggregation will permit a more flexibile timetable for the incoming broadcasters but it may also place them at a serious initial disadvantage. It could even prejudice the ultimate viability of the five-channel concept. An overriding consideration is the fact that rural commercial TV has always been financially precarious. Some stations have done well and could arguably remain profitable with one competitive station. Others get by, while still others have survived only by local mergers; a few available licences have never even been taken up. In his "Canberra Insider" column (Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 2, 1989), Tom Burton says: "In their greed to get themselves three commercial signals across the country, the networks forced the Government into a scheme that was never economically viable. There just were never enough TV sets in regional Australia to underwrite three commercial free-to-air services". Right or wrong? It looks like we're going to find out the hard way! Satellite TV broadcasts As for AUSSAT, its role in nationwide TV broadcasting is very much in question. It carries programs from the ABC and SBS, and that's fine, as far as it goes. There's no way, however, that the major commercial networks will want to use it for everyday TV broadcasting, now that they have nationwide access. That leaves the existing Remote Commercial Television Services (RCTS) operators, each with a potential and very scattered audience of around 100,000 viewers. According to a report in the SMH Guide (Sept. 11, 1989), all three are in a parlous state because, they say, there is no way that AUSSAT's present charge of around $4 million per annum for a 30W transponder can be recouped by a free-access service from the available audience. Right now, the future of the Remote Commercial Television Services is in the melting pot. The Federal Government may decide to subsidise the cost of transponder POLYSTYRENE CAPACITORS Made here in Australia? Made Special to Type? Polystryrene Capacitors - 1 0pF to 1mF Voltage Range 63VDCW to 10,000 VDCW Tolerance - 0.25% to 10% Allied Capacitors Australia manufactures capacitors to the specification of the customers using high quality, imported polystyrene and aluminium foil with a tolerance of 1 micron. Our capacitors are manufactured to the system of Total Quality Control. We can provide Just In Time delivery if required, together with a Certificate of Conformance if requested. Specific values between 10pF and : 1uF are no more expensive than standard value components . You can now design circuits to use a single capacitor rather than a number in parallel or series to achieve a desired value . Personalised labelling is available at no extra cost. Your component code or name can be built into the capacitor. Minimum runs of only 25 allow you to specify a particular value for a prototype run. Delivery lead time for short runs is 3 to 4 working days, and for longer runs is less than 2 weeks . We are also able to produce capacitor styles for applications such as dual mount, end filled and mini style capacitors. INTERESTED? Call us now on: (02) 938 4690 ALLIED CAPACITORS AUSTRALIA PO Box 740 Brookvale, NSW 2100 DECEMBER 1989 99 THEWAYI SEE IT - CTD hire. Conversely, it may decide not to, which would probably mean the end of RCTS. AUSSAT and Pay-TV In the meantime, AUSSAT faces problems with its own capital intensive operation. Its second generation Hughes satellites are contracted for launch in late 1991 by Chinese Long March rockets but in the present political situation, there is no guarantee that the American satellites will make it to China in the first place. If they have to be launched by American or European contractors, there will be a huge increase in launch costs. Which brings me to both a coincidence and an irony. On the very morning after I wrote the above, an article in the daily press (SMH, Sept. 21) suggested that Pay TV may be in sight for Australia. It had been stalled by a 4-year moratorium that was due to end in September next. Scientific Atlanta, a company already involved in current AUSSAT services, is keen to supply from 5 to 7 channels of pay TV, with multi-lingual subtitles, automated billing, parent control facilities, a "fingerprint" anti-pirating system, etc - facilities already available with AUSSA T's B-MAC system. By 1992 the second generation satellites should be in place. Considering that the Federal and State Governments, AUSSAT and some of the present satellite services are strapped for cash, there seems little doubt what the Federal Government's decision will be when it con- siders the fate of Pay TV in a few week's time. High definition TV The subject of high definition television (HDTV) was first raised in the April 1989 issue by W.G. of Wentworthville, NSW, who was clearly impatient to see high definition, wide-screen, 3-D television introduced while he was still around to enjoy it. While admitting to a natural interest in the relevant technology, I suggested that viewers generally did not appear to share his impatience. We had not exhausted the potential of current standards, 3-D technology was still too clumsy, HDTV would be adopted when the time was ripe, etc. W.G's ideas were subsequently challenged in a long letter from another reader, K.W., discussed in the August and September issues. While agreeing with my own summation, K.W. was keen to emphasise the problems that would need to be addressed in the area of video production if the source material was to be equal to the demands of HDTV. There the matter might have rested had not the subject surfaced quite independently in the IREE, with references in recent issues of "IREE Monitor" and a symposium at the Melbourne IRECON in September. HDTV also received recent mention in the TV show "Beyond 2000". In a 10-minute segment, the commentator indicated that the Japanese, notably NHK and Sony, were .,•••, ;•.r..1;;.:.11: RCS Radio Pty Ltd is the only company which manufactures and sells every PCB E, front panel published in SILICON CHIP, ETI and EA. 651 Forest Road, Bexley, NSW 2207. Phone (02) 587 3491. 100 SILICON CHIP trying to create a demand for HDTV, as of now. Their aim was to establish a new market for the domestic electronics industry, as well as Japanese leadership in "third generation" TV. The introduction of HDTV would fairly obviously provide an opportunity to establish a new, worldwide transmission standard. If Japan could set up an industry based on a standard of its own choosing, other nations would be under pressure to conform. But HDTV faced major political as well as financial and technical problems. American and European interests were both determined to grab a slice of the HDTV "cake" but they were taking a much longer view - as it turns out, into the next century. Japan is impatient too That the Japanese were intent on creating immediate local demand was evident from the ''Beyond 2000" coverage of the daily 1-hour HDTV broadcasts in Tokyo. The emphasis seemed not to be on panoramic detail and colour, which is what HDTV is all about. It was on what a Japanese audience most likes to watch - Sumo wrestling - which scarcely needs more graphic portrayal! Currently, Japan is backing NHK's 1125-line 60-field system, the US 1050/60 and a European consortium 1250/50 - the last two by doubling the present line structure. In an effort to rationalise the position, Australia proposed the socalled "Common Image Format" in October 1988 - an approach that has since won growing support. Adapting the image film concept, it envisages an electronic image with an aspect ratio of 16:9, made up of 1080 active lines with 1920 active pixels per scan line, thereby providing for equal vertical and horizontal resolution. The proposed Japanese and European standards should both be able to accommodate that number of active lines. That should be enough on the subject of broadcast television. Now what else did I want to talk about? Curses, I've run out of space again! ~