Get digitized.RU

The development of digital television in Russia appears in a specific context. Terrestrial broadcasting was the only method of delivery of TV signals to people up to the end of 1991 (before the disintegration of the USSR). The cost of access to terrestrial TV for households amounted to not more than 0.08% of the general average household costs (from Euro 0.16-0.56/month).

Impressive, isn’t it? Especially if you are based in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy or some other European countries-leaders in TV digitization.

But Russia is changing now its ways of TV consumption within a context of rapid development of the ICT market. According to the preliminary data of the Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation, the size of the Russian ICT market (IT, telecommunication, TV/Radio) amounted to Euro 42,1 billion in 2007, an increase of 25.4% in comparison with 2006. The IT and communication market size is expected to total Euro 50 billion in 2008.

The transition of terrestrial TV from analogue into digital format (in DVB-T standard) has been announced as being a government priority in Russia and identified in the document Concept of TV Broadcasting Development in Russian Federation within 2008-2015. The total investments in the transition of terrestrial TV from analogue into digital format are expected to be Euro 10 billion during the period 2008-2015.

According to The European Audiovisual Observatory, Russian operators have, so far, been mainly interested in the American model of television signal delivery to the population, as is apparent in the prevalence of satellite and cable television as the main modes of distribution of television channels. With such an approach, the players are following the opinion of leading experts on the Russian TV market, who believe that terrestrial TV is only really necessary for a maximum of 10-15% of Russian households. All other households can be covered by satellite television (in particular when new players providing “economic” services emerge) and cable television.

In the satellite TV segment 100% of signals are broadcast in digital format (by the end of 2007 the number of subscribers of the three satellite TV operators had reached 2.5 million). Regarding cable TV networks (as of April 1, 2007) a minimum of one million of subscribers watched digital channels (7.4% of the total number of cable TV subscribers). The Moscow subscribers of STREAM TV, who receive TV channels over ADSL with the use of IPTV technology, are included in this number.

The development of digital TV in Russia in 2008 will be financed on the basis of the largest private investors. The largest telecommunication operators are currently directing their main investments towards the development of broadband access networks as well.

The declared amount of investment in the modernisation of telecom networks for 2008 totals at least Euro 2.73 billion. This figure includes the investments of the largest and most noticeable players in the Russian market for broadband access. The amount of investments in the development of networks of broadband access and Triple Play services (with reference to investments of regional Internet providers and CATV operators) may total Euro 2,91 billion in 2008.

The broadband subscriber access networks based upon DOCSIS, ADSL (ADSL2+) and Ethernet (MetroEthernet) technologies will be the main distribution channels for digital TV channels.
According to some experts' estimations, from the end of 2007, the number of digital TV subscribers within the cable networks (as of December 31, 2007) had doubled, and reached two million due to the aggressive policy pursued by such market players as “The Central Telegraph”, “AKADO” and “Corbina Telecom”, in connecting subscribers to digital TV.

Over 200,000 mobile TV subscribers (the largest operator is “MegaFon”) and those receiving TV using MMDS technology (the largest operator is “Cosmos TV”) also receive TV channels in the digital format. There are about 100,000 digital TV subscribers in the pilot zones where the introduction of the terrestrial digital TV (DVB-T standard) was tested.

According to the test results, it was estimated that almost 10% of households had access to the services of digital TV in Russia as of the end of the year – i.e. 4.7 million households out of 49 million Russian households.

Well, I am looking forward to see a fast digitization in Russia (as in ICT market, as in brain of Russian people). As people are used to watching analogue TV in the way they have been usually doing it, it will take a while for them to adapt to new opportunities. Though it definitely makes life much easier and exciting – ON THE MOVE indeed!

For the full 155 pages “Digital Television in Russia” report 2008, European Audiovisual Observatory, click here