Farncombe contributes AV expertise to EC report on broadcast-broadband convergence and its impact on spectrum

London, December 16th, 2014 - Farncombe, a leading provider of specialist strategy, technology and operational consulting services, today announced that its consulting team's audio-visual market expertise contributed to a European Commission report Challenges and opportunities of broadcast-broadband convergence and its impact on spectrum and network use', published today. This new report untangles the confusion in this sector to provide an objective analysis grounded in the technical, commercial and regulatory realities of convergence.

Farncombe's role was to analyse how AV market trends and technical standards evolution over the next 15 years could impact the opportunity for shared spectrum use. Farncombe co-authored the report with Plum Consulting.

To date there have been vague notions within the industry that spectrum sharing might provide commercial and economic opportunities, with excited discussion around enabling technologies, but no real consensus around what spectrum sharing actually means, and in what scenarios it might be feasible. In this report we examine the reality by taking into consideration regulatory, economical and technical implications, to help focus the discussion on the few options that have real potential said Tim Jacks, Strategy Consulting Practice Leader at Farncombe.

This free report should provide valuable reading for anyone involved in long-term planning in the broadcast, mobile and broadband industries, Jacks added.

The key questions covered in the report are:

- How will AV consumption in the EU change over the next 15 years?

- How will broadcast-broadband services develop in that period?

- Is there merit in moving to a converged platform?

Based on a cost benefit analysis, the report states that there is not yet a compelling case for moving to a converged platform because the benefits are uncertain yet any transition requires substantial investment. The report concludes that this uncertainty should dramatically improve over the next three to five years, a process that could be accelerated by the introduction of new, EU-wide measures of AV consumption - at this point it will be possible to assess the value of a converged platform alongside other options for use of sub-700 MHz spectrum.

About Farncombe

Farncombe is the leading independent specialist digital TV consultancy, providing world-class advisory, implementation, content security and testing services to clients across the digital TV and entertainment value chain. Farncombe's experience in digital TV is unrivalled, currently focused on the commercial opportunities in multi-platform, multi-screen and OTT video delivery, where it offers both technical and product strategy support.

Founded in 1991, the company supports clients worldwide, and is recognised as an innovator driving the industry forward and as the go-to source for independent and authoritative strategic counsel. Farncombe's client roster includes: Arqiva, AirTies, Broadcom, Cisco, BSkyB, BT, Eutelsat, Liberty Global, Nagra, Ofcom, SABC, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and YouView. More information at www.farncombe.com.

Farncombe Media Enquiries:

Rachel Postlethwaite

+44 7949 883636

rachel.postlethwaite@farncombe.com

LINK:	http://www.farncombe.com/2014/12/farncombe-contributes-av-expertise-to...
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