My two cents.

At the 54th annual PrixItalia, the problems faced by digital terrestrial TV (DTT) throughout the world will be dissected and analyzed. At the conclusion, it is hoped that a viable solution (technological and financial, for both users and broadcasters) will be found to accelerate the process of bringing DTT into homes.

We know where TV is today. We know where it is going. Now we have to figure out how to get from here to there.

As we exit the Industrial Age and enter the Information Age, technology is creating many contradictions. Digital technology makes two such contradictions possible: dispersion and integration.

With communications increasingly taking the place of transportation, the possibility is raised that broadband linked to the Internet and the Internet linked to television might reverse the social effects of the Industrial Revolution, which was the force behind the growth of cities and the development of mass transit and mass media.

For now, the new Holy Grail of the technological, commercial, financial, audiovisual, multimedia, communications and advertising sectors is bringing DTT into homes in order to jump-start media (radio, TV, print and voice) convergence. So far, no one has succeeded at this task, and those who've tried have lost billions of dollars. The many risks associated with convergence have scared off potential operators and investors to the point where the TV industry is questioning the whole approach to digital television. The promise of convergence, with all its new opportunities and hopes, has so far brought only divergence, incomprehension, incompatibilities and financial ruin.

There is also the problem of defining what exactly should spearhead the television transition to digital: technology, policy or the market?

It is clear, however, that the first phase of convergence has to be stimulated by broadcasting (for its mass appeal and as a major content provider) and low-tech telephony (for low-cost, simple interactivity). The second phase of convergence will be achieved through broadband (DSL/EFM, cable and satellite TV), and the third phase by wireless (cellular) technology.

The current models for DTT -- ATSC (USA), DVB (Europe) and ISDB (Japan) -- present problems of high cost, frequency shortages, inadequate levels of interactivity and limited channel possibilities. Plus, interactivity in the ATSC-ATVEF or DVB-MHP and other similar models is more expensive than in a pure data-casting (IP-TV) model.

In countries that have already launched DTT (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, the U.K. and the U.S.), broadcasters were unable to find a viable financial model; in other words, they have not been able to monetize the digital signal.

And to think that today we live in a digital audiovisual world with computers, video games, still and moving cameras, the Internet, CDs and DVDs, satellite and cable TV and cellular phones -- not to mention videoconferencing, movie projectors (D-theater), personal video recorders and now even digital VHS (D-VHS)! Including broadband, there are a total of 10 ways to experience digital television. The problem is that these systems are not integrated, i.e., not convergent. Each system utilizes incompatible standards, causing confusion for consumers and bringing audience fragmentation and high costs to all.

I propose an alternative: utilize streaming media (Internet Protocol) for all digital transmissions, with the understanding that these transmissions are standardized for television in such a way that consumers could integrate all Internet services (e-mail, Web browsing, teleconferencing, TV, surveillance, e-commerce, etc.) on a TV set through a set-top box. With this kind of prospect, consumers will be more willing to invest in a set-top box, even if DTT is the last service to be offered. This alternative (i.e., IP convergence) would solve the chicken and the egg dilemma (no DTT households due to lack of DTT programs, and no DTT programs due to lack of DTT households) by encouraging consumers to obtain set-top boxes and thus stimulating broadcasters to offer more original content.

However, even though digital TV will ultimately have an IP base, before this concept is officially accepted and widely embraced, it will cause controversy at the political, regulatory, technological and special-interest levels.