Appendix D: Technical Standards Examples of Standards: NTSC, PAL color TV GSM standard for wireless telephone systems CD by Sony and Phillips Compatibility Rules FCC rules to assure compatibility b/w consumer electronic equipment & cable systems So advanced features of TV and VCRs will function when connected to cable service Advantages of Standards Enable large markets, mass production, lower cost Promote interoperability interoperability can lead to more choices for consumers Source: Federal Communications Eli Commission, M. Noam, Entertainment FCC Law Cable and Media Fact Regulation Sheet, 6/00 1
Negatives of Standards Transaction cost and time to reach agreement Strategic delay and other gaming Politicization and nationalchampion perspective Early adoption of what may later become an industry standard may result in first-mover advantage However, the wait for industry adoption may be lengthy, or it may never come. Decision for early adoption of standard may be determined by current payoffs. Health and safety: signal strength for cell-phones safety requirements for electric equipment radiation limits for CRTs International Standards Bodies: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) International Standards Organization (ISO) European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) 2
Who sets communications standards? (US) American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Internet Standards Organization Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) W3C (www consortium) http://info.ccone.at/images/dish02-t.jpg Standards can be: mandated by government established cooperatively within the industry or, left to the market where they may emerge noncooperatively TV standards Standardization of TV transmission important to keep receiver cost low Traditionally controlled by national economic aspirations to support domestic manufacturers 3
3 Color TV standards: 1950s NTSC (North American National TV Standards Committee) ( Never Twice Same Color ) US, Japan, Korea, Some Latin America. 525 lines, 60 interleaving frames/second 1960s SECAM (Sequential a memoir) ( Supreme effort contra America ) France, Eastern Europe 1960s PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) Germany, much of Europe and world 625 lines, 50 frames/sec. Most popular worldwide. High Definition TV Initiated 1969 in Japan by government through public broadcaster NHK but analog, not digital technology MUSE standard for Hi-Vision TV Experimental 1989; commercial broadcasting 1997. 1992: FCC adopted digital approach Competing standards proposed by: Philips-Thomson Sarnoff Zenith AT&T MIT 4
HDTV 1993: FCC encouraged the 4 remaining groups to merge their systems into a single best-of-thebest system, the Grand Alliance The Grand Alliance(GA) standard, modified by the FCC, became the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standard. HDTV Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). European DVB standards development consortium involves more than 200 broadcasters and manufacturers. Standards Wars? The 2 standards: ATSC (US & Japan) and DVB (Europe) competing in other countries. Incompatible: ATSC uses vestigial sideband (VSB) transmission, whereas DVB uses coded orthogonal frequency division multiplex (COFDM) modulation, to be close to satellite cable. DVB less integrated with computer communications. 5
Future: open standards digital technology does not require uniformity require smart TV sets that can process multiple standards different video providers will choose different standards and compete with them permit rapid entry & innovation 6