Eutelsat is planning to use the development of more effective compression techniques to stimulate a new market in ultra-niche broadcasting. Director general Giuliano Berretta talked to Interspace about his expectations for a more diversified world of satellite-delivered information…

Eutelsat has never been slow to set about exploiting new technologies. One of its key innovations in recent years was the SkyPlex on-board multiplexing already in use on its Hot Bird 5 craft. SkyPlex allows broadcasters to uplink their digital signals direct to the satellite where the signal is then multiplexed and incorporated with others into a digital stream direct to homes.

It is by now widely known that Eutelsat is experiencing problems connected with the solar panels on Hot Bird 5 and this week is expected to confirm the craft will be replaced by a bigger and better bird. The new satellite is expected to have some neat new tricks up its sleeve. For example, Eutelsat will add Ka-Band functionality to Hot Bird 5-R matching the functionality already promised by its rival SES from this winter.

Ka-Band is likely initially to appeal to high-end Internet users and commercial users, rather than the subscriber in the street. SkyPlex, however, is different and could have a much wider impact, heralding what Eutelsat’s director general, Giuliano Berretta describes as a new age in television – the age of ‘micro television’, allowing niche channel concepts to take off as the cost of transmission via satellite falls.

It seemed that almost every manufacturer at the recent IBC trade show in Amsterdam was demonstrating improved compression codecs, many incorporating significantly improved noise reduction units into their chip-sets. This, says Berretta, will allow Eutelsat to move towards the next generation of SkyPlex on-board compression systems, lighter and smaller than the Mark 1 version. According to Berretta, this will form the first stage in the development of his micro television concept.

"Thanks to these improvements we plan to provide digital television channel transmission of a slightly lower video quality at a 2Mbit/s rate," says Berretta. "At that level our prices would become extremely attractive and yet still be of good quality for our clients. During the last two years encoding equipment with good quality noise-reduction units are now much more affordable, and it means a 2Mbit/s signal for some channels is perfectly acceptable."

Berretta’s concept of suitable channels for 2Mbit/s transmission includes news services, home-shopping and maybe even kids channels where there is a high degree of easy to handle animation. But his personal favourites include a new genre of regional channels. "I see these technology improvements creating extra opportunities for niche channel broadcasters," says Berretta. "I see considerable scope for regional channels [to emerge] where viewers perhaps in other parts of Europe do not necessarily want entertainment in the conventional sense but news and information from their [home] region."

Eutelsat will supply at least 18 ports of 2Mbit/s each on the new Hot Bird 5. But Berretta is thinking even further ahead. "It may not be in the next satellite but our thoughts are towards a new type of television which we call micro television where [for many businesses] it will no longer be enough to have a web-type home page but you’ll have your own television channel able to transmit using smaller dishes." Berretta’s concept calls for mini-dishes, perhaps as small as 1.2 m backed up with a 2 Watt amplifier behind it. "And you have a TV station," says Berretta.

The thought of a country – or even a continent – of potential Wayne’s Worlds might fill conventional broadcasters with horror. But the hard fact is that the Internet, with or without ADSL-type enhancements, is already providing similar services, albeit of a rudimentary nature.

Berretta sees the next four years as being highly volatile for the TV industry. "We expect these micro-channels to further democratise television," he says. "But we also need to create the multimedia that everyone has been expecting, and frankly it has been slower to take off than I expected."

Berretta remains confident that the long-awaited multimedia explosion will happen and that when it happens, it will benefit Eutelsat. "We have allocated several transponders for multimedia," he says. "Even our competitors [SES], with AstraNet, started [and] then stopped, and it is not their fault [because] the market has not entirely responded. Prices must be right and even though Internet is everywhere, I believe it is very much still in the first phase where people are simply excited to have Internet. So it may well take another year or two for customers to start demanding higher speeds from satellite and to pay a little more for their service. I see considerable activity from the large platforms like TPS, Canal Plus and BSkyB, all of which have their ideas for exploiting multimedia. I see the future as containing more and more interactive services."

Berretta forecasts another step-change, likely to affect all consumers within the next few years, based on the expected development of receiver devices with extensive hard-drive memory capacity. "In my view the most dramatic event over the next four years will be the emergence of micro-channels," says Berretta. "But also [there will be] the dramatic increase in the memory and processing of computers and set-top boxes which enables users and broadcasters to store material for the user to access later. With high addressability it means that the web can transmit information to you (call them channels if you like) that is highly specific to you. [Broadcasters] know what you want, they know what you are interested in, [and] they know which sites are your favourites. We are not there yet but three or four years from now…we will see the harmonisation of the computer and the set-top box with much higher processing capability."