Original article ISPreview UK:
The topic of UK broadband coverage and the future of TV came up for debate in Parliament yesterday, which did a good job of highlighting the challenges. On the one hand, some MPs believe that the “switch-off of terrestrial TV in the 2030s is completely premature and unrealistic“, while the government warned that as terrestrial TV audiences fall, the cost of keeping it would eventually become unsustainable.
As most people will already be aware, there has been a radical shift in how the majority of us access and view TV content over the past decade or so. Such content is now increasingly being viewed online, via services like iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon (Prime Video), NOW TV, Sky Glass, Virgin Media (Stream Box), YouTube and so forth. Due to this, there has been a decline in those using traditional Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) signals.
NOTE: At present c.88% of UK premises can already access a gigabit-capable network (
here) and Ofcom forecasts that this could hit around 97% by May 2027 (
here). The government’s Project Gigabit aims for this to reach c.99% by 2032 (
here).
The past and present governments have thus been considering how to adapt to this (here), what to do about the TV licence fee, BBC and how to handle the related UHF bands (here) – those that help to carry Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT / DTTV) services (470-694MHz) – after the service has eventually been switched off. So far there’s been plenty of debate, but the most difficult decisions have yet to be made.
As it stands, the licences that support DTTV are due to expire in 2034 and past that point it may become too costly to sustain the service, with most users being expected to have ditched TV aerials in favour of IP (internet) based platforms and services.
The debate itself (here), which was raised by Conservative MP David Mundell, opened by calling on the government to “give certainty for the [DTTV] service into the 2040s” in order to support those who may not be able to access it via alternative methods, due to issues of cost, coverage and other reasons.
David Mundell MP said:
“Freeview is a universal service reaching 98.5% of the UK population, including those in remote and rural areas. It is available at no additional cost over and above the licence fee. This is a crucial point: people do not need to pay any additional monthly bills to watch terrestrial TV; all they need is a TV set and an aerial.
The options for watching TV have broadened in the last few years, with the arrival of TV streaming over the internet, or IPTV, as it is known. Many of us enjoy those services, but the fact is that to do so, someone needs a high-speed fixed broadband subscription of sufficient speed and reliability, and not everyone has that.
…
Terrestrial TV has a reliability of close to 99%, which broadband does not. Almost half — 45.1% — of broadband customers experienced an outage lasting more than 48 hours in the past year. Indeed, Biggar and the surrounding communities in my constituency experienced an outage of 36 hours. Even as high-speed coverage increases through initiatives such as Project Gigabit, take-up is entirely a different matter.
…
Research from the consultancy EY estimates that by 2040, some 5.5 million premises will not have taken up a high-speed fixed broadband subscription. Today, some people cannot access fixed broadband because the signal where they live is not fast or reliable enough. Other people simply cannot afford to pay for fixed broadband subscriptions on top of other bills. Millions of people are relying exclusively on mobile for access to the internet. Indeed, data from Citizens Advice suggested that, in 2022 alone, up to 1 million people cancelled their broadband subscription because of the high cost of living.
…
That is really my message today — any talk about a switch-off of terrestrial TV in the 2030s is completely premature and unrealistic. The Government have the opportunity to take that possibility off the table and give certainty for the service into the 2040s.”
Firstly, we’re not entirely sure where the MP got that 45.1% statistic from for outages lasting more than 48 hours, as this seems unlikely to be correct from our own observations of the market. The majority of common outages that do occur typically only last for a few minutes to a few short hours, with anything longer being a very rare occurrence indeed. Equally, sometimes the problem can be within your own home network, so take it with a pinch of salt.
However, the former culture secretary, Sir John Whittingdale MP (Conservative), warned that “moving purely to IPTV is, I think, inevitable” (we’d tend to agree) and spoke of how he personally thought that the date that has been set as a guarantee for DTT continuing — 2034 — “is about right“. Both Ofcom and broadcasters have previously warned that there will come a tipping point where it’s no longer economically viable to continue to maintain DTT.
Whittingdale also pointed out that there would be some benefits to a switch-off, aside from the direct cost savings, such as by allowing the possibility of using existing DTT spectrum for other purposes (e.g. if auctioned off to mobile operators, the IMT600 band could theoretically raise up to £980m and help to improve network coverage).
Sir John Whittingdale MP said:
“The other reason why I think a switch-off is worth considering is the future of the BBC. Fewer and fewer people each year choose to pay the licence fee, and we need to look at alternatives. Lots of people say, “Well, in that case, why can’t we just operate like Netflix or Amazon and charge people?” The reason is that the BBC cannot, unless it has streamed services with conditional access that allows people to choose not to receive it. That is also an important part of the debate.
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right that there are real challenges. The cost has already been referred to. In government, I had responsibility for Project Gigabit—the Minister will be all too familiar with that—and the initiative to extend gigabit broadband coverage across the country. We still have some way to go. It would be unthinkable to turn off DTT before we reach the point at which gigabit broadband is universal.”
The government’s representative, Stephanie Peacock MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture), responded to all this by acknowledging both the significant shift in viewers to “internet-based platforms“, the high cost of trying to maintain DTT past 2034 and the importance of “not [losing] sight of those who still rely on digital terrestrial television as their main way of watching TV … especially true for people without access to fast, reliable broadband“.
Stephanie Peacock MP (Government) said:
“I would like to directly address the issue put to me by the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale and others of why the Government do not simply commit to extending the licences past 2034. The cost of DTT to the PSBs is substantial. As fewer people rely on DTT, the cost per house is going up and will continue to do so.
I am aware from my visits and meetings with providers that as part of the network reaches the end of life, investment would be needed to carry on even the current services. The right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale), a former media Minister, referred to that tipping point. I say that while very clearly saying that no decisions have been made; these are complex issues.
…
Around 4.5 million households still face real barriers to accessing TV over the internet, whether due to a lack of broadband, unconnected TVs, or a preference for traditional linear viewing. To understand those challenges, we commissioned researchers who spoke directly with a representative range of viewers across demographic groups, from DTT-only users to hybrid users, who use both DTT and IPTV, and full internet TV adopters.
Building on the University of Exeter’s research, this in-depth work shows that many are interested in IPTV once they understand it better, but concerns remain about cost, internet reliability and technical confidence, even among those with broadband. We are using those insights to understand how different groups are affected and to explore what the Government and industry can do to support fair and inclusive access to television.
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We also know this is not an easy decision. The choices ahead are complex and must be guided by evidence, and that is why we are taking the time to get them right, drawing on data, research and the views of people across the sector and across the country. We know this work cannot happen in isolation; it is a joint effort that requires extensive collaboration across Government, industry and audience groups
The debate doesn’t really say anything new, but it does summarise the current thinking in parliament and shows that all sides do seem to be trying to find a solution that works. The inevitable reality here is that the days of DTT are slowly coming to an end and nobody should seriously expect it to be continued, at least not at full national scale, much past 2034. But the form of that solution remains unclear.
Equally, there seems to be a strong focus on the need for gigabit broadband to achieve its near universal coverage target first (currently set for 2032, which marks a recent delay from the original 2030 target). But it’s worth remembering that you don’t need gigabit download speeds to watch several HD TV content streams live online (some 98% of the UK can already access speeds of 30Mbps+).
Even the relatively new Freely TV streaming service (eventually this may replace Freeview, even if it’s not promoted like that) states that supporting TVs and other devices require a “minimum broadband speed of 10Mbps” to “stream live internet channels or watch on demand shows“. In reality, you can already fit a single 1080p (Full HD) video stream down a stable download rate of 2Mbps+ with modern codecs, and future developments may even squeeze this down to 0.5Mbps.
The catch being that we still have to allow overhead, particularly in family homes, for people to be using their broadband connection – reliably – for other tasks than just streaming TV/video content (even though that does account for the vast majority of consumer data traffic). Nevertheless, it’s not a negative that the government may wish to achieve universal gigabit coverage before culling DTT, particularly as modern FTTP lines are much more stable and reliable than older copper-based solutions with their many caveats.
