ABC and Ericsson sign digital TV deal in boost to rural Australia

Stan Beer
Sunday, 12 September 2010 13:37

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

A five year agreement between the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation and telco supplier Ericsson will see free-to-air digital TV made available Australia-wide, including rural communities. The agreement will involve the ABC using Ericsson's satellite video compression technology to expand the reach of digital TV.

Following the historic Federal Election result which sees the balance of power now held by rural and regional independents, the new agreement will see hundreds of thousands of rural Australians receiving digital free-to-air TV, according to Ericsson.

Australians living in rural communities are currently unable to access the same free-to-air, high-quality, digital TV experience as their urban counterparts.

Ericsson claims the new five-year deal will help address this issue, thanks to Ericsson's latest satellite video compression technology. As a result of the deal, Ericsson claims the ABC will be able to expand the reach of its high-definition and standard-definition digital TV programming across the country.

As Australia undergoes the switch from analog to digital free-to-air TV, the Australian government is funding a new satellite service to provide digital television to viewers in remote areas where free-to-air digital TV can't be received by TV antennas. About 247,000 Australian households in these 'digital black spots' will benefit from the initiative, according to Ericsson.

Sam Saba, head of Ericsson Australia & New Zealand, says: 'According to a recent study, all Australian households watch free-to-air TV and spend almost three hours a day watching it on average. Since this service is central in the life of Australians, we value being part of digitalizing it and ensuring that all Australians can enjoy a rich, high-quality television experience.'

The system uses a range of Ericsson head-end equipment including bandwidth-saving MPEG-4 AVC EN8190 HD and EN8130 SD encoders, Reflex statistical multiplexing for channel bitrate allocation and management, and nCompass Control and Monitoring. Managing bandwidth and maintaining high-quality pictures is critical in such a major digital TV rollout. Deployment of the technology will start in December 2010.