Spanish pay DTT 'must be horizontal’

Spain’s Interactive TV Association (AEDETI) a non-profitable association, has published a report in which it bets on a horizontal business model for future payment on DTT. So any manufacturer can opt to place products on the retail market and users can receive the whole programming offering, free and pay, though one box.

According to the Association in the horizontal model an independent association establishes the conditions for the pay DTT service and at the same time hires another association which has responsibility for the definition of the basic technical conditions relating to the content offering.

AEDETI says this type of model has had success in other countries surrounding Spain such as Great Britain, Italy or France. This model guarantees the free market and the competition of the actors in the market, whereas in the vertical model the decision over the chosen technology is made by the service provider managing the pay-TV operator.

The association has also made the following recommendations:

• payment on Spain's DTT should be made under the horizontal business model;
• this model must include the implementation of interactivity which would give the final push the country's new television needs now and at the same time it would contribute to closing the 'digital gap existing in Spain between those already using the new technologies and those who still don't know what they are;
• the pay DTT receivers must be certified by means of an official stamp assuring their viability
• the association recommends initiating "urgently" the works of a technical group defining and validating that future stamp by using as reference the results of the Technical Forum of the Digital TV created by the country's Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce.