DVB-T2 arrives in Germany
and there’s no way to stop it. But what does the new technology means for the
consumers? A long overdue increase of quality or a rip-off in disguise?
Ready for the electronical waste: German DVB-T receivers
Maybe a lot of Germans
didn’t even notice but they are in a “cost-free-phase” since the 31. May 2016.
Those are good news, aren’t they? But what exactly is cost-free since then?
Well the private TV-channels of cause! You are not impressed now because the
private channels like “RTL”, “Sat-1” or “ProSieben” were cost-free all the time
due to the fact that they finance themselves by commercial breaks? In this case
the private channels throw a loud “But not much longer!” directly in your face.
The new TV-reception-system DVB-T2 arrives and brings fee-based private
channels with it. But let’s take one thing at a time.
A few years ago the main
TV-reception-system switched from television antenna to DVB-T ("Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial"). Most of the
Germans will remember the informative TV-spots which warned us that soon we
won’t be able to pick up a TV-signal via antenna anymore and that we have to
change the set-up. So the consumers did as they were told and bought DVB-T
receivers. But the new reception-technology was not a real treat: It offered
only a few channels compared to reception via satellite or via cable and the
quality was often affected by statics. My opinion as a year-long user of DVB-T:
So what? I was able to watch TV! That’s what matters! To say it with Batman
from the “Dark-Knight”-Movie: “It wasn’t the reception system we deserve but
the one we need.”
But now DVB-T2 is coming.
Well actually it is here already since the 31. May 2016 but it will supersede
DVB-T completely at the 29. March 2017. That means you can already plan to
bring your DVB-T receiver to the electrical waste. Yep, that’s true! The new
technology makes the old receivers useless. But why is new technology necessary
anyway? Apart from the fact that the government tries to clear frequencies for
providers of mobile-communication, all television broadcasts improve to
High-Definition-Quality. Even to better HD-quality than current HD satellite-
or cable-channels. Furthermore there will be a range of up to 50 channels. So
no more need for me to be envious of my friends with satellite or cable who
tell me proudly about “Eurosport”, “Disney-Channel” or “Comedy Central”. So
far, so good.
Everything would be alright
when we just would have to buy a new receiver – we are used to it anyway.
Onetime acquisition costs
for 50 channels in HD-quality. I think the most of us would gladly agree to
that. However the problem is that the costs don’t stop at this point. As
mentioned above, the private channels don’t upgrade their technology for
charity’s sake but demand a fee of five Euros per month. That doesn’t seem to
be much but if you compare it to streaming providers like Netflix which demand
a fee of eight Euros per month it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. You are
forced to pay nearly the costs of a streaming-provider for usual television
without the benefits of streaming. You can’t choose what you want to see, you
have to deal with long commercial breaks…Exactly the things you try to avoid by
paying for a streaming provider.
At least the public channels stay cost-free
further on. Or, to say it better, the costs are still included in the
obligatory radio-and-TV-license-fees. So even if you don’t pay for the private
channels your TV-screen won’t stay black.
But where does this decision
leads to? As we all know, the predicted extinction of the old mass media
including the television by the internet never happened. Instead you can
observe that old and new media tends to form a peaceful co-existence. It is the
device that changes not the content. We still have radio broadcast, even if
some of the functions have changed, we still have theatres, cinemas and of
cause we will still have the television in Germany when the device changes from
a DVB-T to a DVB-T2 receiver. But nonetheless the demanding of fees for an old
mass media like the television seems like a risky approach for me. I think one
of the reasons that streaming-providers don’t endanger the television is that
you can receive television programs nearly cost-free. But if I look at my own
development I’m not sure if the TV stays stable when it becomes completely
fee-based. I have barely watched TV in the last year. Instead I watched
online-streams, Youtube-Videos, streaming-providers like Netflix or DVDs with
friends. The program of most of the TV-channels is not my cup of tea anymore so
I don’t watch it but own a TV nevertheless. But when Pay-TV will become
obligatory I see no more reason for me to watch TV at all. Why should I pay for
the usual old fashioned TV (apart from the HD-quality) when I nearly pay the
same for a streaming-provider (in HD-quality as well)?
I’m sure that there will
be a lot of people who will pay for the new private channels but I can not
exclude the possibility that this could lead to a gap between internet and TV
audiences. The first possibility could be that only people who earn enough
money will pay for the new private channels. But I don’t think that this is
realistic because the standard of the majority of the private channels seems to
get lower and lower every year. For that reason people with a high social
position could lose the interest in it completely unless the private channels
change. The other possibility could be that lowly sophisticated people are more
likely to pay the fee even if it’s difficult for them because they don’t want
to lose their reality-soap and Superstar-programs. In this case the private
channels could stay the same but there would be a growing gap between a
sophisticated internet-society that chooses the information it is interested in
(apart from problems like the “Filter Bubble”) and a low level TV-society that is
exposed to a content stream of information the mass media wants it to see.
That would be co-existence
of the old and the new media as well and maybe the television or the streaming providers
will change their functions due to this development. From a media-studies point
of view that wouldn’t be surprising but could lead us to new social problems
and new forms of informational division.
It remains to be seen if the
private providers shoot themselves in the foot by banking on the willingness of
the consumers to pay a monthly fee just to watch programs like “Germany’s Next
Top Model” or “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”. But that’s another matter.
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