I have had a good read through the green paper, and FTV also put together a very detailed report about the cons of selling off the 600mhz spectrum, leaving only channels 6-12 and UHF 28-39 for free to air tv.
In relation to Sharing multiplexes, submissions from the broadcasters are against the proposal of the ABC and SBS sharing one multiplex and the commercial networks two.
Since we are only going to use DvB-tv1 with MPEG 4 this will result in reduced picture quality, and less channels. I see one of the solutions could be to drop the SD simulcast of the HD channels and get rid off the info commercial datacast channels, but the commercials channels obviously use these channels to print money.
Free tv’s report focused heavily on the overlap markets of the Central and Gold Coasts, with the reduction of frequencies there will be insufficient frequencies for local breakaway feeds of NBN / 9 Gold Coast etc.
Also more SFN would be required increasing mush zones.
If dvb-tv2 HVEC was to be implemented and broadcasters where to share multiplex’s there would be more available bandwidth allowing equivalent picture quality and number of channels to be broadcast, this could also be achieving by dropping the SD simulcast of the HD channels.
The report also said that with dvb-tv2 SFN could be used over larger areas and the mush zones can be better managed.
With theses options we are not going to see 4K tv, and it looks like dvb-tv will become a race to the bottom like dab+ with the broadcasters focusing on their streaming service with potential 4K tv streams.
Alternatively, I mentioned in another thread we could remove the spare channels from block b / C / D /E and go into the CB band 21-27 to reclaim frequencies, UK used 21-28, and NZ 25-28. TV firmware would need updating and a UHF antenna that goes down to UHF 21 would also be needed. We can then sell off the 600mhz band to the telcos.
The most likely scenario will be the tv networks reject the proposal or a change of government abolished this, Michelle Rowland is very against the Green Paper.
Please move this to the Digital Tv technical thread as we have gone off track, also sorry about the length of this post.