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THE FRONT LINE: MARCH 7, 2005 |
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| THE FCC DEALS, THE MARKET TRUMPS The FCC finally issued its long-overdue PSIP mandate to all terrestrial digital TV stations, but Gemstar’s TV Guide has stepped in to fill the void – and then some. The transition to digital TV has made it possible for broadcasters to ‘soup up’ TV with new offerings, the most obvious of which is high definition television. Other goodies include surround sound audio, multiple language tracks, and the ability to send out more than one video program simultaneously (multicasting). Perhaps the most important benefit of digital television is datacasting. In addition to basic information about a particular broadcaster (their virtual TV channel, callsign, information on minor channels, time and date) contained in PSIP, broadcasters can now provide a look-ahead electronic program guide, or EPG. EPGs make a labyrinth of direct broadcast satellite (DBS) and cable channels easy to navigate. A grid of channels, program listings, and start and stop times can easily be accessed so you can plan your TV viewing in advance and schedule recordings. But DBS and cable EPGs show all available channels in your service tier, whereas a broadcaster can only show program listings for that particular channel. Granted, set-top boxes for reception of terrestrial DTV do have the ability to build a comprehensive guide across many channels, but that takes time and is not automatically updated.
Figure 1a. This is the typical
‘mini’ on-screen display (OSD) of program guide information
Figure 1b. This is a typical ‘full’ electronic program guide for a terrestrial DTV receiver. (Think of it as vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.)
Enter Gemstar. Their TV Guide program list format has been around for a few years and is the backbone of at least one cable company’s program listings in this area (Comcast). Gemstar compiles program information and is transmitted as data by contracted local analog TV stations. The TV Guide OSD is quite attractive and comprehensive. Network logos are arranged vertically along the left side of the guide, with 30-minute time slots across the top from left to right. You simply scroll to the particular channel and program to find out more about it, including a text description, program rating, captioning information, and audio format.
Figure 2. Here is the Gemstar TV Guide EPG, which has an identical appearance no matter what brand of TV it appears on. This particular one is waiting to be populated with program information. (Think of it as a triple banana split with hot fudge.)
PSIP, which stands for Program and System and Information Protocol, contains much the same data when correctly implemented. Data from the Region Rating Table (RRT), Event Interval Table (EIT) and Extended Text Table (ETT) are added to basic station information and System Time Table (STT) data to build a detailed program guide for each station. The advantage of Gemstar’s approach is that it will provide EPG for all stations that can be watched by a particular viewer, including cable and/or satellite services with terrestrial broadcasts. While the Gemstar EPG currently isn’t as fast as “click and it’s there” cable EPGs, that problem will be rectified as Gemstar moves its datacasts to digital terrestrial stations. That means it will take minutes to update a Gemstar-equipped TV, not hours as before. And just who’s using TV Guide? Early adopters included LG and RCA. But Gemstar announced at CES 2005 that they had just signed agreements with 18 different manufacturers of TVs and set-top receivers. This list includes all of the TV ‘heavyweights’ (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Hitachi, LG, Samsung, JVC, Thomson/RCA, Pioneer, Sharp, Philips) and a few newcomers (Orion, ST, LiteOn). Another advantage to Gemstar’s EPG is that it provides one-touch recording of a program – and this feature isn’t limited to analog-only recordings. Try that with your dedicated terrestrial set-top receiver! LG’s LST-3410A NTSC/ATSC/QAM set-top receiver/HDR makes full use of this feature for hard drive and D-VHS recordings, and it’s likely that new Digital Cable Ready (DCR) sets with IEEE1394 connections will also offer the same convenience. The TV Guide OSD for recording (or, as it is now known in the 21st century, ‘time shifting’) is elegant and simple: Once you’ve selected the program you want to record, you choose the device you want to record to (VCR, DVD, HDD), how often you want to record the program, and if you wish to change the start and stop times from the specified program interval in TV Guide. Who pays for Gemstar / TV Guide? You do, when you purchase your TV. Part of Gemstar’s income stream is derived from a royalty paid on every TV sold with TV Guide in that TV’s operating system. The rest comes from that window in the lower left corner of the TV Guide listings that contains a promo (read: advertisement) for a particular network program. So where does that leave PSIP? The FCC made a serious mistake at the start of the transition to digital TV by not mandating PSIP from the start, way back in 1997. If sales of TV Guide-equipped TVs and set-top receivers increase substantially over the next few years, PSIP will be reduced to an anachronism – too little, too late. |
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