Convergence of Telecommunications and Broadcasting in Japan, United Kingdom and Germany by Koichiro Agata Kiyoshi Nakamura

Author:Koichiro Agata, Kiyoshi Nakamura [Koichiro Agata, Kiyoshi Nakamura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Technology, Telecommunications, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies
ISBN: 9781136127069
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2013-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

Gateways or bottleneck facilities, access to which becomes necessary if broadcasters are to be able to reach the consumer, are not new. Spectrum scarcity is the best known of the bottlenecks in analogue broadcasting, where the number of service providers has been traditionally restricted by government licensing. What is new in the digital environment is the wide range of bottlenecks that exist, the speed with which additional ones are added and the often temporary nature of such bottlenecks. A fundamental difference between the existence of bottlenecks in the digital environment and those that exist in analogue is that they are no longer government owned and/or managed. The gateways in digital television are owned and operated in the UK by vertically integrated service providers. The vertical integration of these players is what generates the most heated debate amongst third party broadcasters who require access to proprietary facilities, in competition with the owner of the facility, and the regulators.

To date, the most pressing competition and regulatory concerns surround third party access to proprietary bottleneck technologies. The debate over access to Conditional Access Services has provided some considerable insight into both the favoured approach of regulators to access problems and the particular difficulties posed by the digital TV industry.

The UK approach on access to proprietary Conditional Access services has been driven by the need for consistency with the 1995 European Directive on Advanced Television Standards.21 The 1995 Directive established the very general framework within which EU Member States are supposed to regulate the terms of third party access. Amongst other requirements, the Directive obligates Member States to establish regulations under which the terms of access to Conditional Access services are ‘fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.’ Responsibility for regulating the access terms in the UK lies with the telecommunications regulator Oftel. In practice the UK approach has been non-interventionist, with Oftel preferring to rely on commercial negotiation to resolve disputes, rather than impose a regulated settlement. Oftel has taken the view that an acceptable access charge lies within a very broad range between long run incremental costs and fully allocated costs. Other related issues, such as access to the Electronic Programme Guide, are dealt with through Codes of Conduct regulated by the ITC22 rather than specific regulation.

The UK has (on the 1st of March 2000) introduced a new system of competition law, reflecting both the EU and the US approaches. The 1998 Competition Act has two main prohibitions. Firstly, agreements between two or more undertakings that have anti-competitive effect are now prohibited under the Chapter I prohibition. The Chapter II prohibition prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position. It is this prohibition that non-vertically integrated broadcasters are relying on to act as a constraint on the behaviour of the gatekeepers. In the event of abuse, the guilty party may be fined as much as 10% of its UK turnover, plus be required to compensate damaged third parties. Although this should provide a considerable deterrent to abuse, there is little certainty in the outcome of

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