Annexes to COM(1998)441 - Final annual report on progress in implementing the action plan for the introduction of advanced television services in Europe - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(1998)441 - Final annual report on progress in implementing the action plan for the introduction of advanced television services in ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(1998)441  |
| date | July 13, 1998 |
Figure 1A
Broadcasting Costs
| Flat rate (ecus per hour) | |
| First 50 hours | 6 000 |
| From the 50 first hours | 2 500 |
Figure IB
Revised Programme Making Costs
| Programme Type | Flat rate (ecus per hour) |
| Programmes remastered from existing material, suitable for broadcasting in | 3 000 |
| 16:9 and in 625 lines | |
| Programmes remastered from existing material, suitable for broadcasting in | 5 000 |
| 16:9 and in 1 250 lines | |
| Super 16 mm | 12 000 |
| 16/9 625-line video production | |
| a) stock programmes | 12 000 |
| b) flow programmes hours 1 to 20 | 12 000 |
| 21 st and following hours | 6 000 |
| 35 mm production | 30 000 |
| HD-video production (1250 lines) | |
| a) stock programmes | 60 000 |
| b) flow programmes hours 1 to 20 | 20 000 |
| 21st and following hours | 10 000 |
ISSN 0254-1475
COM(98) 441 final
DOCUMENTS
EN
08 10 15
Catalogue number : CB-CO-98-453-EN-C
ISBN 92-78-38111-X
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg
1
93/424/EEC, O.J. No. L 196/48, 5.8.93
2
Ibid., Art. 6.
3
COM (95) 263 final, 16.06.95; COM (96) 346 final, 26.07.96
M- 5_ C
4
Luxemburg has no national broadcaster transmitting 16:9, but other countries’ 16:9 services are available via terrestrial, cable and satellite.
5
Either 50% or 80% of the rates set out in para 4 of the annex to the Council Decision: 6000 ECU per hour for the first fifty hours and 2500 per hour for each subsequent hour. See Annex A below.
6
OJ No. C 26, 1.2.96, p.4
AO - 11
7
Parliamentary Question No. 2649/95 by Mrs Marin; No. 2724/95 by Messrs. Podesta, Azzolini, Ligabue, Caligaris and Boniperti; 2736/95 by Mr Tatarella and 2754/95 by Mr Dell’Alba
8
OJNo. C 288, 1.10.96, p. 46
9
See Art 2.5, Council Decision 93/424/EEC of 22 July 1993 on an Action Plan for the Introduction of Television Services in Europe
10
See COM (96) 346 final, figure 4, p. 16 in particular.
11
Advanced Television Markets, October 1997. Strategy Analytics estimate 2.2m. These European estimates probably include non-EU markets such as the 150,000 16:9 sets sold in Switzerland. SBS began PAL Plus 16:9 tranmissions at the same time as German broadcasters. Extensive German satellite broadcasting has helped stimulate the Swiss 16:9 market.
12
The consumer investment in D2-MAC was never high because pay TV and cable TV operators rented most of the decoder boxes, with a view to swapping them for digital ones when digital services were launched.
13
Note that PAL and SECAM letterbox transmissions were never elegible for Action Plan funding because they do not meet the quality requirements set out under Art 5.1 paragraph (iv) of the Action Plan’s Implementation Procedures set out in the Technical Annex of the Decision.
14
The DVB specifications for digital cable and satellite transmissions were available before the more complex terrestrial digital TV system was defined.
15
Pay TV broadcasters’ decoder boxes usually contain both the necessary technologies for conditional access and descrambling, together with the electronics for receiving digital or analogue broadcasts.
16
Most UK broadcasters believe that the PAL Plus transmission system is unsuitable for use in the UK because it produces a “letterbox” picture on 4:3 sets. UK audiences are unaccustomed to “letterbox”, unlike most audiences in continental Europe.
17
No further funding will be distributed following Call 97/1, contracts signed in 1997 do not conclude until the end of 1998.
18
Decision E/97/456 - C(97)906 - 1.04.97 and E/97/1216 - C(97)2065 - 1.07.97
19
Financing this activity from the programme production part of the Action Plan was not possible. In the 1997 budget commentary for the B3-2013 budget line covering programme production, the budgetary authority states “This appropriation is intended to cover the production in and conversion to 16/9 format of programmes intended to be reused (long stock programmes) to the exclusion of programmes intended in principle to be broadcast only once, such as news bulletins, sports broadcasts or televised serials...” (OJ No. L44 14 February 1997 p.802). The European Parliament’s Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media had earlier expressed concern that B3-2013 was supporting sports production on a cultural budget line.
20
It is possible to integrate 16:9 and 4:3 production but broadcasters outside Europe were concerned that this might affect the quality of the 4:3 coverage and would not permit 4:3 and 16:9 coverage to be combined. The 16:9 coverage will however be shown in Brazil and Canada, according to EACEM.
21
Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, UK.
22
Source: Advanced Television Markets newsletter ibid.
23
COM (95) 263 final, 16.06.1995, P.26 para 3.2
24
HDTV uses the 16:9 wide-screen format, but has a higher bit-rate in order to produce quality pictures on big screens, thereby adding to impact and realism.
25
2- Review of Action Plan for Advanced Television Services, December 1996, Final Report, Coopers & Lybrand and Convergent Decisions Group.
26
Reshaping Television for the Information Society, Brussels, 26 September 1996.
27
Directive 95/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the use of standards for the transmission of television signals. OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.