FROM THE INDUSTRY
importance of a ‘no one gets left behind’ principle, the need to identify how to achieve universality of delivery, and what the cost subsidy approach would be to ensure those last few percent of those in need are brought along. ‘No one left behind’ also means the demographic who, even with the broadband rollout planned today, may be excluded from fixed line connectivity. Today, that means fixed line broadband having sufficient capability for 99.9% of the population by 2034, and the last 0.1% being covered by 5G and direct satellite broadband services. When you look at data presented during the SCTE Presents event, you can see that this issue is on its way to being covered and even exceeded for Internet delivery (Figure 1, below). These are achievable when you take into account that meeting the same broadcast quality (standard definition) of the DTT on which 98.5% coverage is based only requires 2Mbps using existing technology. Certainly, broadband readiness is more of a question in core capacity and distribution than local loop delivery speeds. The Benefits of Transition This does not yet account for the additional benefits of internet delivery over broadcast distribution, alongside broadband’s existing uses and the clear cost, sustainability, and efficiency gains from switching off dedicated infrastructure.
The Options
The options as set out in the green paper are: Option 0 - Unmanaged transition to Internet delivered TV Option 1 - Managed transition to Internet delivered TV by 2034 Option 2 - Managed transition to Internet delivered TV by 2044, with a phased approach between 2034 and 2044 Option 0 was only included as a baseline worst case scenario and was likely to have the highest monetary and social costs; the timeline was undefined and could be even quicker than 2034 for many current providers of DTT broadcast services. Option 1 and 2 only differed in how long the transition would be, between now and 2034 or extended through to 2044. The determination between the two was to be based on cost and whether there were any further contributions from the industry that could edge a decision towards the more conservative (but more costly) option of 2044. Otherwise, it looks to be 2034 is favoured. We also got something a little extra; the paper stressed that trust in the media remained critical, as well as the importance of content provenance. This is identified as a key part of a move from broadcast to Internet TV. It also reinforced that the
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SEPTEMBER 2026 Volume 48 No.3
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