NEWS | Tuesday, 31 October 2007

Local TV stations up in arms as they face re-applying for their licences to broadcast on digital terrestrial

Charlot Zahra
The four major television broadcasters are up in arms after a joint policy document by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) and the Broadcasting Authority (BA) is proposing that existing television broadcasters would have to re-apply to get a new license to broadcast their programmers on digital terrestrial television (DTTV).
The policy document on “Making Digital Broadcasting Accessible to All”, issued last month, is recommending scrapping the current licensing regime adopted by the BA till now, with licenses being issued by the MCA instead.
Three types of broadcasting licenses are being proposed - a public service broadcasting license, a broadcasting license that is issued to private stations that broadcast general interest content – thus qualifying for the General Interest Objective (GIO) status – and a broadcast license of a purely commercial nature.
The first two types of licences will be guaranteed a free-to-air channel on the DTTV network, while the latter would have to negotiate their access to the network with the network operator.
When asked by BusinessToday for a reaction to the fact that existing broadcasters would have to re-apply to get a new licence, One Productions’ Managing Director Michael Vella-Haber did not mince his words.
He said: “For ONE Productions this reapplication beats any logic as on extrapolation will any sector providing a service be requested to reapply for a new license on the sole premise of a technological migration.
“If this were to be the case we should be in for reapplication pretty soon even after achieving a new licence for DTTV transmission. Having said this however we have no doubt that ONE Productions presently meets and surpasses any criteria that might be set by the competent Authorities.
Asked whether he thought that this proposal is fair or not in view of the fact that existing analogue broadcasters already have made substantial investments in equipment and human resources and have already built a reputation, Vella-Haber said: “Not only is this sate of affairs not fair, however it is downright worrying as present broadcasters have already migrated technologically in production and transmission to digital format and are capable to at any one point to start transmitting their content free to air in digital format as they are presently doing in analogue.”
He said it was evident that this dilly-dallying by the authorities has only assisted network operators to attain in-house penetration with the broadcasters’ content. “It seems that the competent authorities have the interest of these operators more at hearth then that of broadcasters having a proven track record through past years by way of supplying quality content free to air to Maltese households,” he complained.
Asked whether One Productions had been consulted by the BA and the MCA about this proposal, Vella-Haber said: “If by consultation you mean that we have been allowed to repeatedly air our concern in this regard then yes we have been consulted.
“If by consultation you mean that stakeholders through dialogue could have had an impact in decision-making and implementation of migratory norms then the answer is a blatant no,” he told Business Today.
Asked what kind of representations One Productions made with the BA about the matter, Vella-Haber explained that representations have been multiple and varied with both Authorities, from our end these were mainly though not solely done with the MCA.
“I personally think that the BA is well aware of our situation and is assisting us to a degree, however bandwidth allocation solely lies at the discretion of the Malta Communications Authority and once more it is baffling how this Authority to date has deemed fit to allocate bandwidth to network operators and as yet not to pre existing proven free to air broadcasters,” he insisted.
Joe Balacchino, Director, Smash Communications Limited, operators of Smash TV, was equally scathing in his reaction. “We do not agree that existing broadcasters like Smash TV should have to re-apply for a broadcasting licence solely on the premise of a change in technology.”
Baldacchino reiterated his position that Smash TV should be available on DTTV free-to-air, independent of network providers like GO Plus.
“We have made a proposal to the Prime Minister and the BA to broadcast Smash TV free-to-air, but there was no response about the matter,” he revealed.
“We have a pending court case against the MCA about the whole issue of DTTV, the outcome of which will be known next week when a judgement is expected.
“The MCA consultation document is obsolete because it speaks about Standard Definition broadcasting, whereas in the rest of Europe, a lot of countries, including France, Germany and Italy are already broadcasting in high-definition,” Baldacchino insisted.
He said that the MCA consultation document gives too much advantage to network providers as against broadcasters.
“Moreover, in our view it should be the BA which should continue to issue licences for television stations, not the MCA as the consultation document is proposing. The MCA should be only address the technical side of the matter,” Baldacchino said.
Asked about whether they had been consulted about the issue by the BA, Baldacchino told BusinessToday that the BA has appointed a sub-committee to discuss the transition to DTTV with the participation of the four existing terrestrial television stations.
The first meeting of this sub-committee will be held in the first few days of November.
Louiselle Vassallo, Media Manager at Media.Link Communications, operators of NET TV, was confident that Net TV meets all GIO requirements and is “modestly confident” that it should, on application, acquire GIO status
She explained that with the exception of PBS – as National Broadcasters – all stations have to re-apply so, essentially, all stations are in the same boat.
“The broadcasting scenario is, after all, changing, or rather, forever evolving, so, essentially, re-addressing certain issues, including technological matters, can be a self-motivating process for any broadcasting entity to go through,” Vassallo said.
Asked whether she thought that this proposal was fair or not in view of the fact that existing analogue broadcasters already have made substantial investments in equipment and human resources and have already built a reputation, she said:
“The digital scenario has always been an realistic possibility, in that, broadcasting has been heading in this direction for years, so much so that, even at the initial stages of NET TV being set up (over 9 years ago), this issue was kept in mind and the investments made factored the shift to digital, even then.
“Anyone wishing to operate in broadcasting needs to, in fact, take all this into consideration, after all, investing in ‘old’ technology is a strategy that no operation based on technological investment should adopt.
“Basically, our reputation, as you describe it, should carry us through this next phase. Having said that, should the unfortunate situation arise, whereby NET TV’s license is not renewed, our next option would be to negotiate with the various operators, but as I said, such a scenario is not, at present, in view of our status, viewed as ideal.”
Asked whether Media.Link Communications had been consulted by the BA and the MCA about this proposal, Vassallo said that “a document has been published and circulated and is in the process of being discussed” between the parties.
Asked what kind of representations Media.Link Communications did with the BA about the matter, Vassallo told BusinessToday: “We are presently analysing this document in preparation for the first consultation meeting due to be held in the near future.”
Asked for his reaction about the whole issue, Albert Debono, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at public broadcaster PBS, gave a curt reply to BusinessToday’s questions.
“We are currently in discussions with the BA which, with the MCA, has kindly decided to seek our views on this subject. We are assessing the implications of the authorities’ proposals and will revert to them with our views shortly. We have no further comment to make at this stage,” he said tersely.
Equally telegraphic was BA CEO Kevin Aquilina’s response to BusinessToday’s questions about whether existing analogue terrestrial broadcasters would have to re-apply for a broadcasting licence to broadcast their content on DTTV.
“In view of the fact that the document you refer to is still in the consultation stage, it is still too early to reply to your queries as we still have to await the outcome of the consultation process,” he said.

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