Pay television

Pay TV (from English pay television), also known as pay-TV, referred to private television, a fee agreement must be signed for upon receipt thereof with the program provider, regardless of the prescribed license fee in Germany. A precise definition of the concept of pay- TV is not possible because the charges are to be separated for program content and infrastructure such as cable television or broadband Internet access not always.

In its initial form, the shipments are grundverschlüsselt broadcast and decrypted with a special decoder and a decoder card. Today, with few exceptions, digital decoder and conditional access system (Conditional Access System, CAS ) was used. The proliferation of Internet access enables numerous other business models, see listing models.

History

In May 1982, Tele Club launched a trial operation at Zurich cable network and was officially launched in Switzerland in 1984. 1985 had Teleclub in Switzerland 40 000 subscribers.

In the Federal Republic of Germany in 1986 was broadcast locally limited pay- TV for the first time in Hanover. The end of 1987 the program of Tele Club had there around 700 subscribers.

In the U.S. the end of 1987 had about 30 percent of all households pay-TV subscription.

Mid-1988 was Canal in France, with around two million subscribers of the largest pay - TV provider and funded primarily from the subscriber fees.

Offer models

Various models offer have mixed forms:

  • Selection model: Subscription individual selected programs, such as for special-interest channels.
  • Program Bouquet: Subscription of several, mostly laced to a package programs such as various sports programs, children's programs, film or series packages, foreign language courses, knowledge programs, etc.
  • Basic Encrypted deals with a unique activation fee: without Conditional Access System and corresponding decoder card can not be received - even if advertised by the cable or satellite company, as Free TV
  • PPV: When pay- per-view is a selected event such as a sporting event, a concert or a movie separately to subscribe and bill. At a defined broadcast date the shipment is then " activated" for the customer, ie decoded. This is done through the decoder card (smart card ) with a unique identification number of the card or the decoder (pin ).
  • VOD: Video on Demand is related to the pay-per -view basis. Again, one episode is at customer's request " enabled" and billed separately. In contrast to PPV determining the transmission time of a limited set itself this market ready process due to technical limitations, especially Internet service provider ( provider). It only works with broadband connection via DSL, cable modem, internet via satellite, etc.
  • NVOD: Near - Video -on-Demand is almost identical with VoD: but at only roughly a certain time of transmission. As a rule, a program is cycled or time-shifted - ie for example, that the start date is repeated every 15 minutes - and the customer selects an appropriate start time from.
  • HD: The technique of the HD offer are more models possible, such as the free broadcasting of channels in conventional quality and the paid in HD, as currently practiced by various German private broadcasters. The operators describe the fee as a " service fee " ( see basic encryption). HD also includes a Digital Rights Management, which may prohibit or restrict the recording programs, time-shifted playback, forward and rewind. Even photographs can be provided with an expiration date.

Dissemination

In countries where there is no established public broadcasting, and especially wherever the number of different free -to-air services is low (eg in France or the Netherlands ), pay-TV is widely distributed and has a larger selection of formats and programs than in countries with a license fee and a wide selection of free to air programs.

Known offers

Known pay-TV brands in the markets are Sky ( formerly Premiere ), Viacom ( with MTV/VH1 ), cable Premium (formerly DigiKabel, Media Vision ), Arena ( set in 2010 ), Unity Media ( with Unity Digital TV, formerly tividi ), Cable kiosk ( in independent cable networks) and Tele Club.

In Great Britain and Ireland British Sky Broadcasting ( BSkyB) is represented.

In France, Poland and Spain Canal is established.

The best-known providers in the U.S. are DirecTV and DISH Network.

In many parts of Africa, especially in South Africa are the offers of MultiChoice, DStv ie very widespread. It can, among other things German stations are received.

Offers in Europe

Access technology

  • Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)
  • Conditional access system (Conditional Access System)
  • Common Interface ( CI)
  • Conditional Access Module (CAM)
  • Common Scrambling Algorithm ( CSA)
  • Smart card
  • Illegal: Cardsharing

Antonym

  • Free TV
ATSC tuner Albania Tring Digital Telenet (Belgium) Belgacom Greece Italy HBO Cyfrowy Polsat Cinemax Portugal NTV Plus Digiturk
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