| Russia has begun preparing for a massive replacement of television receivers The digital revolution on domestic television, the need for which signalmen have been talking about for so long, has not yet happened, but at least it has already begun. Its first salvo was the order signed at the end of May by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to the relevant ministries to develop and adopt by the end of 2004 the necessary standards for Russia's transition to digital television broadcasting using the European DVB system. For another year, the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications and the Ministry of Industry and Energy will prepare a program for the long-term development of “digital” in Russia.
By and large, you won’t be surprised by the “digital” nature of domestic TV broadcasters - many have been using this technology to transmit signals for several years, not to mention the fact that most TV program producers have been working on digital equipment for a long time. However, this was of little use to the audience. The first digital channel broadcasting in the DVB system appeared in Moscow back in 2002, however, only owners of Mercedes cars equipped with digital television receivers could watch it.
However, the intensification of work on digital broadcasting is caused not only by the desire to expand the narrow circle of the viewing elite to the scale of the entire country - ordinary TV viewers will not be able to evaluate all the capabilities of the new system soon. Mikhail Fradkov’s order today is necessary so that Russia has time to join the global redistribution of frequencies. “The first session of the regional conference of the International Telecommunication Union, which was dedicated to the start of work on a new frequency plan, just recently ended,” says Elena Zlotnikova, vice-president of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters. -- The existing international frequency plan was developed back in 1961. Now the world is switching to digital television, and it is necessary to agree again on who will get what frequencies. Each new frequency will require an extremely complex and lengthy international approval process. By the next session, which will be held in 2006, all countries will have to declare their claims to the frequencies.”
In the future, “digital” should bring qualitatively new television to Russia: make more channels available, improve the quality of the “picture,” provide stereophonic sound, etc. However, for now, all the latest technologies end up approaching our televisions, which are capable of operating exclusively in analog mode. And when a large-scale replacement of the current analog signal with a digital one begins, the revolution may result in serious social upheaval. After all, digital television, which promises unprecedented opportunities for broadcasters and the state, will in the foreseeable future require a radical replacement of the multimillion-dollar fleet of television receivers operating today in Russia. And the current battles over converting benefits for pensioners into cash rubles may seem like a weak prelude to the wave of protests that could arise if, without prior preparation, the question of mass replacement of televisions or the widespread introduction of subscription fees for receiving programs arises.
That is why today even those who, by the nature of their work, are supposed to deal with technical problems, first of all talk about the need for an extremely sensitive approach to Russian citizens with proposals for “digital”. The deadlines for abandoning analogue broadcasting are already set to be quite distant - according to forecasts, the final transition to digital broadcasting will take place no earlier than 2015. And this decision will have to be made by the government, taking into account the population’s readiness for additional costs. Therefore, the decision to “turn off the analog switch” will certainly require much more effort from Mikhail Fradkov’s successors than the stroke of a pen under the order for a gradual transition to the European DVB system. Nadezhda STEPANOVA |
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