Private Cable TVThe times are achanging. .
. How France, Germany and Sweden introduced private, cable and satellite TV – acomparison over the past 10 years. 1. INTRODUCTIONWhy we have chosen this subject?Before starting to write about TV in Sweden, Germany and France, we wanted tocompare French,German and Swedish media. But on account of the wideness of thisanalysis, we decided to focus on the evolution of TV broadcasting during theselast 10 years. The technical revolution which has appeared in this area since 1980 is necessaryto be understood to be able to follow and forecast what will happen in thefuture when multinational companies can take a look on pan-european broadcasting.
In this paper we try to make the point on this changes. Furthermore as we camefrom different countries and live now in an other one, we found it interestingto compare the three countries (France, Germany and Sweden) TV-broadcastingsystem. While we were searching for datas, we discovered the gap that exists in cable-covering between France and the two other countries. What are the main reasonsof this delay? Are they political, financial or cultural? We will try to answerthese questions in our paper. But we will first define the different technicalterms that we are going to focus on. Then we will developp the birth of privatechannels, their regulations, laws and financing in the different countries.
2. BASICSIn our paper you will find the following technical terms:terrestrial broadcasting: this is the basic technology used to broadcast radioand TV. Its the use of radio-frequencies that can be received by a simpleantenna. The problem by using terrestrial broadcasting is, that you only have afew (up to max. 7) possible frequencies and that you need to have expensivetransmitters every 100-150 kms to cover an area.
Programms which are broadcasted terrestrical are e. g. : Swedish TV 1, 2 and 4;German ARD, ZDF, 3. Programme and some private channels in urban areas; FrenchTF 1, France 2 and France 3.
cable TV: the reason why you have only a few frequencies by using terrestrialbroadcasting is that terestrial broadcasting is influenced by physical phenomens(bandwith) whereas broadcasting in a cable is shielded/protected from outsideinfluences. So you can have more channels on the same bandwith-space. Forexample: a cable might carry 7 programmes catched with an antenna fromterrestrical transmitters and additional 25 satellite channels (maximum 30-35different channels in one cable). Instead of connecting to an antenna cable-households connect their TV-sets to the cable-network. satellite broadcasting:a satellite is a transmitter that is positioned on a course in space 40.
000 kmsfar from earth. The advantage of this technology is to cover a wide area withonly one transmitter. Modern direct broadcasting satellites (DBS, e. g. Astra)can be received by small ( 30cm) and cheap ( 2. 000:- SKR) “satellite-dishes”.
To connect a TV-set to the “dish” you also need a device that converts thereceived satellite-signals to signals that can be used by a standard TV-set. In the beginning (80s) this technology needed huge and expensive dishes and wasonly used to transmit signals to cable-networks. Newer technology is oftencheaper than connecting a house to a cable-network. In east-Germany the GermanPTT (Telekom) is competing with their cable-network against the cheap satellite-dishes.
The most tranceiver-signals on DBS-Astra are booked by British (NBC-Super, MTV. . . ) and German (RTL, SAT-1. . .
) broadcasters. Satellites can also beused for telephone-connections, TV- or radio-broadcasting. 3. TV-BROADCASTING IN FRANCE3.
1 HISTORYTO BE FILLED WITH THE BEGINNING (PUBLIC TV 1930S – 1984) The firstbroadcasting tests happenned in the late 30s like in Germany. It is only in1945, after the second world war, that The Ordinance formalized the statemonopoly of broadcasting which was assigned to Radiodiffusion de France. TheRadiodiffusion de France has then included television in 1959 and became RTF(Radiodiffusion-Television de France). Established as a public companyaccountable to the Ministery of Information, RTF became an “Office” (ORTF) stillsupervised by the government. The events that happened in France in May 1968,have then helped the government to liberalize the medium.
The government ofinformation was therefore abolished and in 1974, an Act divided the ORTF inseven different public companies which formed the public broadcasting service :TF1, Antenne 2, FR3, Radio France, TDF, SFP, INA. Private channels emerge in France with Canal Plus the crypted-paying channel in1984. This terrestical channel is owned by Havas. Canal Plus has to broadcast adaily clear program lasting from 45 minutes to
