SES and Samsung unveil Africa's first TV with integrated free-to-air satellite receiver

SES announced at the Samsung Africa Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, that it is collaborating with Samsung to drive digital broadcasting via satellite in sub-Saharan Africa. Samsung will introduce an LED television with an integrated free-to-air satellite receiver, the Samsung LED TV Free Satellite, that will be distributed in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon in August 2012. Distribution to additional countries will follow.

The integrated satellite receiver will allow consumers to receive free-to-air television channels without the need for an additional set top box as the LED TV will be directly connected with the satellite dish. In preparation for the launch, SES and Samsung will jointly arrange training sessions with distribution partners and installers to ensure the proper connection of the TV device to the satellite dish. Both partners will also run a joint marketing campaign in June 2012.

As a leader in the free-to-air digital TV market, SES delivers more than 60 free-to-air channels in more than 40 African countries. The launch of the new Samsung LED TV Free Satellite coincides with more channels becoming available in Africa.

"This collaboration is the first of its kind and will drive digitalization in Africa," said Christoph Limmer, SES's Senior Director of Marketing Development and Marketing in Africa. "Today, one out of three households in Africa has a TV set but less than 10 million homes receive content in digital format. Our cooperation will not only help to improve access to digital content for African consumers but it will also encourage African broadcasters to launch more content.

"In servicing more than 40 African countries, we are well aware of the huge demand for more and higher quality TV services. The opportunity lies in providing an increasingly sophisticated African viewership with a significantly increased number of TV channels - a first for many African countries."

"The Samsung LED TV Free Satellite is our contribution to the continent's efforts to 'go digital', providing African consumers with greater choice and broadcasters with the opportunity to grow the region's media industry," said Dae Hee Kim, Regional Product Manager at Samsung Africa.

FACTFILE:
SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.

SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements. SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. Further information under: www.ses.com.

Oh, no! Not another digital TV switchover? International agreement boosts pressure for another TV switchover

A deal signed by representatives of 165 countries has greatly increased the likelihood of a second digital switchover across Europe. This could involve viewers having to retune their sets or buy a new set top box or TV. It comes only a few years after they had to replace equipment to receive digital terrestrial television.

The agreement was made at the World Radio Conference (WRC) in Geneva, held by the United Nations body with responsibility for Information and Communications Technology, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Delegates agreed to clear the way for mobile services in the 700 MHz band, which is currently used for terrestrial TV in most of Europe. The deal means that from 2015 mobile services operating in this band could legally demand protection from interference by other countries.

In practice this means that the 700 MHz band could not be used for mobile and broadcasting where two countries shared a land border as the mobile signals would be drowned out by the high power broadcasting signal. This creates a strong pressure for regional blocks, like the EU, to use the 700 MHz band for either broadcasting or mobile.

The switchover from analogue to digital TV has freed up the 800 MHz band for mobile services, a process known as the digital dividend and coordinated across Europe. This was agreed over the past few years, and the emergence of this deal for a second “digital dividend” in 700 MHz has taken many by surprise.

Furthermore, 700 MHz will be globally harmonised as it is also a mobile band in North America and the Asia - Pacific. Today’s agreement will ultimately extend that arrangement to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Ironically, what may be a headache for Europe will be good news for Africa and the Middle East who proposed the 700 MHz mobile agreement. In these two regions 800 MHz is used for other services, meaning that they would have had little or no “digital dividend” from the switch to digital terrestrial TV. Giving them access to 700 MHz would bring huge economic benefits by allowing the roll out of wireless broadband networks in a much shorter timescale than the wired equivalent.

“This WRC decision doesn’t mean that any European government has to move TV out of 700 MHz but it certainly tips the scales in the decision making process,” said Martin Sims, PolicyTracer’s Managing Editor. ‘If a significant number of European countries want to have mobile in 700 MHz this wouldn’t be practical unless the whole region went along with them. The economies of scale associated with a global market mean that 700 MHz mobile handsets could be cheaper, creating a powerful incentive for a second TV switchover,” he argued.

FACTFILE:
PolicyTracker is the spectrum management newsletter and has been published online and in printed form since 2004. We also provide consultancy services, market the Global Spectrum Database and organise conferences and training courses. For more details please see www.policytracker.com

The magic of digital TV brought back to you by One For All!

They promise us a great deal. Vinyl records would be unbreakable, you could treat a CD as badly as you wanted, but it would still play perfectly every time and digital TV would be much, much better than analogue TV! You would think we would have learned our lesson long since, but we still believe the technocrats when they praise up the next big thing.

But digital TV can be much better and you do not need a NASA base station size aerial to achieve this! All you need is the latest indoor electronic aerial system, the SV9390.

At one time indoor aerials were either gigantic rabbit's ear things or had twin telescopic aerials which were easy to damage during dusting, etc.

But the SV9390 has more of the chic, modern artistic gallery about it than a television aerial. It looks good and goes with just about any home décor that you could care to mention.

My wife set the aerial up when it came and this is her opinion of the said aerial: “It was very easy to install, there was none of that fiddling and messing around with things! When I connected it up to the television I realised I could pick up channels that I had not seen in ages, some that I had never even heard of!

“The picture and sound quality is absolutely superb. There must be some pretty good filtering in it, because our neighbour's dodgy video send unit that often blocks out some channels no longer puts in a peep, now!*

I can recommend this aerial unit for anyone who has problem reception like we did. Before we got the latest One For All aerial! And the Freeview HD programmes are really sharp, just as they should be!”

That's the review over, what about the technical specifications?

Fully compatible with Freeview and Freeview HD, the range-topping SV9390 features "multi patch" technology which has wider bandwidth than traditional loop or Dipole aerials.  It can be placed anywhere - horizontally, vertically or on the wall - providing a 360 degree reception angle without any loss in performance.  No more constant adjustment of a telescopic loop when changing channels - the six patches mean it's effectively six aerials in one, so it automatically receives a wider frequency spectrum.

Interference is minimised via an external digital amplifier.  Ten stages of filtering ensure that all unwanted signals like mobile phones, WiFi and other sources that cause overload and picture freeze are filtered out.  The micro-controller amplifies the pure signal, not other noise - to provide a constant and solid output level to the TV or set-top box.  Signal gain is adjustable in four 'touch control' stages up to 43dB.  And because the amplifier is external, not integrated, no component noise is picked up by the aerial.

Stylish, flat and discreet, the SV9390 comes in black with a brushed aluminium finish - it doesn't even look like a TV aerial!

Range is up to 18 miles from the nearest transmitter.  Visit www.oneforall.co.uk/aerials  to check your location.

The SV9390 can receive horizontal and vertical transmitted broadcasts simultaneously and offers up to 40% more bandwidth than previous models in One For All's range.  The omni-directional multi patch system means that high density information streams such as DVB-T2 and HD MPEG4 can be received with stable load and gain across the entire frequency spectrum.

The constant 75 Ohm impedance ensures a better load match to the set-top box, minimising echo and reflection between the antenna and the receiver.  Patch technology also means the aerial has a higher carrier to noise ratio, to ensure the signal quality is strong enough for the higher data rates needed for HD broadcasts.

All connectors are gold-plated for the best contact and signal transfer, and a 2.75m coaxial cable is included.  The aerial is powered by a 6V DC, 500mA AC/DC mains adaptor.

Ideal for digital TVs with an integrated IDTV tuner such as Freeview, or older TVs with a Freeview set-top box connected, One For All's SV9390 aerial is priced £59.99 (RRP).  It will be available from Argos, Comet, PC World and Curry's as well as online at www.amazon.co.uk and www.homebase.co.uk

The SV9390 aerial is also compatible with DAB radio.

*It would appear that my wife was right in her summation, there is some heavy duty filtering that blocks our neighbour's dodgy video sender is fully described above!