Print

Print


Important meeting at LSE -

Máire Messenger Davies PhD, FRSA, MBPsS
Professor of Media Studies
School of Media, Film and Journalism
University of Ulster
Cromore Rd
Coleraine, BT52 1SA
N. Ireland, UK

email: [log in to unmask]
Twitter: @mairemd
New book: 'Star Trek and American Television', by Roberta Pearson and Máire Messsenger Davies, see

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520276222
________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 September 2014 15:16
To: Messenger, Davies Maire
Subject: Reminder: LSE Seminar on Broadcasting & Spectrum, Friday 19 September 2014

Subject: Reminder: LSE Seminar on Broadcasting & Spectrum, Friday 19 September 2014
Dear Friends,

We would like to remind you about a special seminar taking place next month, organized by the LSE Media Policy Project, in conjunction with the MeCCSA Media Policy Network:

Free-to-air Television and the Battle for Spectrum
Friday 19 September, 2014, 14:00 – 17:15
Location: London School of Economics, 20 Kingsway, Room G.01. The entrance to the Kingsway building is on Portugal Street; the nearest tube station is Holborn.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/mapsanddirections/findingyourwayaroundlse.aspx
('KSW' is the Kingsway building).

The seminar will be divided into two sessions with plenty of time for questions and discussion. The programme is below.

This event is free of charge but please register with Emma Goodman at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by 12 September, 2014. If you have any accessibility requirements please let us know. This event is co-ordinated by Sally Broughton Micova (LSE) and Sylvia Harvey (University of Leeds).

Hope to see you then,
Best regards,

Dr Sally Broughton Micova
Research Officer, LSE Media Policy Project
Department of Media and Communications
London School of Economics and Political Science


Prof Sylvia Harvey, FRSA
Visiting Professor
Institute of Communications Studies
University of Leeds


14:00- 15:30 The prospects for terrestrial broadcasting in the UK: Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) appears to be a successful and popular method for delivering TV signals but its use of precious spectrum is coming under closer scrutiny. Last year's sale of frequencies in the 800 MHz band enabled the roll out of the new 4G mobile services but has caused interference for some DTT users. What does the future hold? Is DTT and its Freeview technology vital for the delivery of a universal public service, free at the point of use, or should it be ushered off the airwaves and delivered via broadband?
Speakers:
Gill Hind, Enders Analysis
David Mahony, Director of Policy Development, Ofcom
Ben Roome, Chief Executive, at800
Jonathan Thompson, Chief Executive, Digital UK

15:30 – 16:00 Tea Break and networking

16:00 – 17:15 Economic efficiency and public service: balancing space for broadcasters and mobile in Europe: How are battles for spectrum playing out in other European countries? What role is the European Commission playing and who are the other actors (nation states, ITU, World Radio Conference)? Whose interests should take priority in spectrum allocation, how economically efficient is broadcasting and what are the communicative requirements of citizenship? To what extent is there room for coordination around core principles such as universality and free access?
Speakers:
Björn Thegeby, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology ('DG Connect'), European Commission
Simon Fell, Director of Technology & Innovation, European Broadcasting Union

Context
As mobile communications providers expand their services they require increasing amounts of spectrum space and increasingly find themselves in conflict with older tenants – the broadcasters. For their part the broadcasters find themselves having to defend the frequencies that they had long taken for granted for the free-to-air transmission of programmes, universally available for viewing, and free at the point of use. Despite the spectrum efficiencies delivered by broadcasters in their recent move from analogue to digital transmission, the mobile phone and communications companies now seek greatly enhanced provision for what can be described as either the vital new infrastructure of economic development or as an unwelcome land-grab.

It is unclear yet what consequences there may be for listeners and viewers should broadcasting be squeezed into smaller bands of spectrum. Pay TV, delivered via cable or satellite, may become the only practicable option for some viewers, which means an additional expense but also places what some refer to as a gate keeper between them and their media. By 2012, the year in which all UK households had finally transferred from analogue to digital television, just over half of all homes (51%) had chosen to receive pay TV. However, the system that allowed free-to-air reception via a roof-top aerial, enabled by Freeview and Freesat, had also grown in popularity with Freeview claiming that by 2014 it was present in 75 per cent of British homes – on either first or second sets.

In 2013 the British government authorised an auction of spectrum in the 800 MHz band to facilitate the roll out of the new 4G mobile services. It was known in advance that these new services were likely to interfere with existing digital TV reception in a number of areas, consequently ‘mitigation’ arrangements were put in place by Government, managed by Ofcom and subsequently put into practice by a new organisation – At 800 – charged with solving any signal interference problem experienced by TV viewers.  Early in 2014 the British Government (DCMS) and Ofcom published strategy documents on future uses of spectrum and the European Commission established a High Level Group, chaired by Pascal Lamy on the same subject. In late May, Ofcom issued its consultation on the future use of the 700 Mhz band, exploring the implications of a change of use from broadcasting to mobile communications.

________________________________

This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information which is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at [log in to unmask] and delete this email immediately. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Ulster. The University's computer systems may be monitored and communications carried out on them may be recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. The University of Ulster does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of a separate attachment, the text of email is not intended to form a binding contract. Correspondence to and from the University may be subject to requests for disclosure by 3rd parties under relevant legislation. The University of Ulster was founded by Royal Charter in 1984 and is registered with company number RC000726 and VAT registered number GB672390524.The primary contact address for the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland is,Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT52 1SA

-------------------------------------------------
MeCCSA Policy mailing list
W: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa-policy.html

Please visit this page to browse list's archives, or to join or leave the list.