This document discusses the history and future of television broadcasting in Flanders. It notes that cable television reached a penetration rate of 90% in Flanders in 1989, dominating the television landscape. For the digital transition, it considers two views - a pessimistic view that sees little potential for digital terrestrial television (DVB-T), and an optimistic view that sees opportunities to test new mobile television (DVB-H) services and technologies through "living labs" to explore new applications and business models, providing a potential "digital knowledge dividend" for Flanders.

1. How to go for an ether
dividend in a television
community dominated by
cable?
Erik Dejonghe
MICT
October 2008

2. Flanders’ first ether dividend
1952 - …: Foreign transmitters start beaming their signals
into Flanders
France: Reaching their ‘Brothers in Language’ and
convincing ‘les Flamands’ for 819 lines
The Netherlands: Gaining transborder audience
Germany: Serving the lost ‘Eastern Cantons’
England: English football welcomed by vacationists in
Ostend
Complex antenna’s on Flemish roofs
The first ether dividend for Flanders:
Six (incl. television from Wallonia)
for the price of One

3. The Conquest of the
Flemish Television Gateway
1960 - …: Cable operators
obliterate antenna cost,
prevent the ‘Friday Night Storm Disaster’,
expand program choice and
improve signal quality
(sounds like DTV in 2000…)
1989: Cable reaches penetration of 90% in Flanders …

4. Penetration television technologies
in Flanders

5. The Conquest of the
Flemish Television Gateway
1960 - …: Cable operators
obliterate antenna cost,
prevent the ‘Friday Night Storm Disaster’,
expand program choice and
improve signal quality
(sounds like DTV in 2000…)
1989: Cable reaches penetration of 90% in Flanders, rules
the television landscape and enables VTM to become a
successful ‘transmitterless broadcaster’
2006: Antenna users are (conceivably) reduced to nomads,
lonely viewers in secondary locations, rural hermits or
members of a religious-like society

6. Flanders’ first digital dividend
1996: Flemish Cable operators expand their bandwidth
beyond the need for analogue channels and adapt
networks for digital speech and broadband internet assess
(sounds like triple play)
Fierce competition with Belgacom leads to cheaper
interzonal calls (sounds like VoIP) and fast (though not
cheap) internet access
Flanders digital dividend is materialized by using
excess digital bandwidth for new, demand driven
applications ( a lesson to remember?)

7. A digital ether dividend for Flanders?
A (useful) view from a pessimist
DVB-T will remain limited to the present offering (Flanders’
best kept secret), because there is no market potential for
the use of roof antennas
DVB-H will be discussed, discussed and discussed, but
mobile service operators, commercial broadcasters and
network operators will hesitate to launch a ‘full coverage
service’
Alternative services will not (cannot) be considered
From November 3rd onwards, the Flemish
ether will be the quietest spot in the universe
No digital ether dividend

8. A digital ether dividend for Flanders?
A (dangerous) view from a (born) optimist
DVB-T will find its market as a service for movable,
secondary viewing locations, bundled with existing DTV
offerings (Hybrid IPTV? Local retransmission of CaTV)
DVB-H will be launched in several ‘Living Labs’,
together with alternative services and technologies to
find out:
What kind of mobile visual entertainment the consumer
really wants (which content on which device?)
What kind of new mobile services can be launched on
existing mobile platforms (in cars, on iPods, on
smartphones, on PPS, on laptops…)
What role mobile services can play in non-mobile
situations

9. A digital ether dividend for Flanders?
A (dangerous) view from a (born) optimist
DVB-T will find its market as a service for movable,
secondary viewing locations, bundled with existing DTV
offerings (Hybrid IPTV? Local retransmission of CaTV)
DVB-H will be launched in several ‘Living Labs’,
together with alternative services and technologies
From November 3rd onwards, the Flemish
ether will be the most interesting spot in
Europe to test new applications and business
concepts
A digital knowledge dividend

10. Why are we optimistic
at MICT?
(but please, do not insist...)
Thank You!
• Because Flanders has the time (up until 2011)
• Because Flanders has the skills (academic talent
and business know-how)
• Because Flanders has, with IBBT, the right
structure to launch research project in an efficient
and effective way