ABU and ITU carried out jointly a workshop on DTT at AMS in Kuala Lumpur
The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) with the support from the Department of Communications, Australian Government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC-Japan) organized and carried out an ABU-ITU-AIBD Workshop on “Enhancing Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Transition Experience”. This was held at the Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday 25 May 2015, as a pre-summit workshop of the Asia Media Summit 2015.
The workshop provided an opportunity to 45 participants from 23 countries in understanding the various types of digital terrestrial television technologies that are used around the world, ATSC, DTMB, ISDB-T, and DVB T/T2, future trends of interactive multimedia services in Asia-Pacific, various platforms that media stakeholders could use such as OTT, IPTV, Mobile TV. They also learnt from experiences of the countries such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand those who have already completed Analogue Switch Off (ASO) having implemented the digital Terrestrial Television broadcasting transition.
ITU with ABU and AIBD has extended various forms of assistance to countries in preparation of digital 24 road maps and providing guidance. The Department of Communications, Australian Government, MIC-Japan, MSIP/KCC-Republic of Korea, and NBTC Thailand supported the preparation of some of the road maps. The representatives from 4 countries namely Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Timor-Leste presented their progress, shared the diversity and various challenges that each country face in making digital transition. The workshop also discussed emergency warning broadcasting and capabilities and features in digital transmission technologies such as ISDB, DVB, ATSC and FOBTV.
Mr Chang Jin, Director of Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) said that events such as this workshop provide an opportunity to share experiences and discuss the challenges faced by the broadcasters in their respective countries. Dr Amal Punchihewa, the Director of Technology at ABU highlighted the need for television broadcasters to act promptly in planning and implementing the digital transition. Ms Sireerat Bunnag, representing the Regional Director of ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific informed the participants that contribution that has made by ITU in assisting countries to commence digital transition. ITU expert Mr Andrew King presented a case study from Pacific as an example to the participants.