1 Digital Terrestrial Television I talian regulation 15th EPRA meeting Brussels, May 2002 Lisa Di Feliciantonio

2 National broadcasting environment: Whole frequency spectrum currently in use Digital frequency allocation plan not issued yet Law 66/01 establishes the transition to digital terrestrial guidelines for AGCOM ’ s regulation AGCOM regulation: Conditions for issuing licences and authorization and underlying business model Provisions for transitional period 2002 – 2006 Rules for the protection of pluralism Regulating DTT: summary of main legislative steps

3 Law 66/01 Frequencies “trading” between operators in order to free technical resources for the kick off of digital terrestrial Operators can use frequencies acquired to start experimental DTT broadcasting But:: 40% of capacity must be reserved to independent content providers (transitional period) Digital switch over by December 2006

4 Analogue TV value chain & regulatory obbligations Rules on amount & scheduling of advertising Protection of minors European quotas Antitrust rules on amount of frequency used CONTENT NETWORK COND. ACCESS VERTICALLY INTEGRATED BROADCASTER Accounting separation Access rules

5 AGCOM Regulation: licences and authorizations Key issue of the DTT reg: fragmentation of value chain CONTENT PROVIDER SERVICE PROVIDER Manages network infrastructures and frequencies Creates/broadcasts programme schedules Provides conditional access or information society services NETWORK OPERATOR LICENCE AUTHORIZATION

6 AGCOM Regulation: business model Interaction between content providers and network operators is left to market dynamics: Network operators will be awarded the frequencies and will negotiate with content providers and independent channels to put togheter an offer No limitation to ownership of networks National networks can carry local content and local networks can carry national content

7 AGCOM Regulation: transition to DTT The transition will be lead by existing broadcasters Until March 2004 analogue broadcasters may apply for DTT provisional authorization The authorization will be valid untill July 2005 Applicants that hold more than one TV license must ensure that 40% of their DTT capacity will be given to independent content providers From March 2004 those who have been authorized for experimentation may apply for a network operator licence. After 2006 available capacity will be granted to existing licensee or others

8 AGCOM Regulation: pluralism and competition Independent content providers must be granted access and non-discriminatory conditions 1/3 of total capacity reserved to local broadcasters Same content provider cannot be granted authorization to broadcast more than 20% of digital television programmes Access to networks shall be granted by network operator on equal and non-discriminatory basis By 2004 the AGCOM will issue a new regulation to grant access to independent content providers in case of resources not sufficient to guarantee access to all requests