Els primers passos de l’HbbTV

La Societat de la Banda Ampla vibra amb l’estàndard HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV), el de la televisió interactiva, que promou una òptima monetització de les inversions publicitàries i noves opcions multimèdia.

La televisió híbrida, les darreres investigacions sobre la qual vaig exposar a l'XI Congreso Internacional Latina de Comunicación Social (Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife), al qual  agraeixo l'excel·lent acollida i reconeixement, va començar a gatejar a Espanya mitjançant TDTcom, una aportació tecnològica de l'empresa Abertis Telecom, que ha evolucionat i des de 2015 es denomina Cellnex. A França (TNT2.0), Itàlia (TIVU) i Regne Unit (YouView) es creen iniciatives semblants. D’aquesta manera, la interoperabilitat és plausible.

Barcelona, an open digital hub

The protagonism of Catalonia and Barcelona in the broadband development is high. We analyse in collaboration with Héctor Gasulla, Andy Causse and Adrià Laborda the broadband reality in Catalonia, focusing on its capital, which has an interesting history behind it. The importance of communication in Barcelona has been so great throughout its history. 

It is well known that telecommunication is a powerful weapon to control the public opinion from the population and manipulate information such as in the Civil War. One of the best examples were the 18th July 1936 and the May Days of 1937. Although Internet didn’t arrive until the late 1990’s, communications were so important in this period of Spain’s History. We are talking about radio, telephonic lines and telegraphs were so important these days and were used for informing the population, but also to point which are the real enemies.

Banda ampla i HbbTV: la santa aliança

Un dels fenòmens més atractius i rupturistes dels últims anys (de fet, ja de fa gairebé un decenni) és l’aparició de l’estàndar de televisió interactiva HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV), que s’ha demostrat que permet una millor monetització de les inversions publicitàries.

De fet, tenim l’honor d’haver assolit i portar a terme una recerca inclosa en el Projecte Reptes de la Direcció General d'Investigació Científica i Tècnica, Subdirecció General de Projectes d'Investigació, Ministeri d'Economia, Indústria i Competitivitat, "Noves formes de publicitat interactiva en televisió, Internet i els mitjans digitals. Aplicacions reals en HbbTV "(CSO2017-88895-R), des de Blanquerna-Universitat Ramon Llull, CECABLE, Cellnex i altres entitats

Broadband in Maresme and Mataró

Broadband is necessary. In Catalonia, the most remarkable changes that have been done in the broadband sector is related to the rural zones, a problematic that has been faced mostly via WiMAX technology, creating a network called Banda Ancha Rural (BAR). We will analyze this case and the Maresme and the Mataró case, with Neus Masnou, from UPF.

When it comes to the situation in Spain, the downloading speed is of 15,25Mbps, a little bit under the media on the European Union, that reaches a speed of 18,44Mbps.

Some keys for broadband in Spain

Like any other country in the world, Spain has its own broadband world that it’s important to know, especially if you’re Spanish or based in Spain. To understand Spain’s broadband system and the evolution of its Broadband Society, we have to take into account different things, and we analyze it in collaboration with Aina Velasco. 

First of all, we must know the biggest and most important providers. Movistar is, without any doubts, the biggest broadband provider of the whole country, and it’s owned by the telecommunications giant Telefonica. 

Broadband in Germany: promoting fiber optics

German technology is symbol of reliability, quality, innovation and high technology. We analyze the Broadband Society in Germany in collaboration with Natalie Barresi, from UPF. As it refers to high-speed internet broadband, Germany is certainly at the head of the group, right? Wrong, actually Germany scrambles to merely cover large cities with broadband and has consistently missed the dates agreed by both government and telecom companies to build a digital infrastructure that matches their European neighbors’. 

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, a research center composed of the world’s most developed economies, Germany’s adoption of fiber-optic cable stands at just 1.8 percent of Internet users, putting it fifth from the bottom in the list of the OECD’s 35 members. In contrast both Japan and South Korea have more than 70 percent of subscribers on super-fast fiber-optic cable.

Broadband in Guatemala: new challenges to advance

The digital era has made broadband a global necessity, yet, many countries are still struggling to cope with this technology. We analyze the case of Guatemala in collaboration with Natalia Gámez, from UPF. The Latin American case is very useful to show the universalization of broadband everywhere, taking in consideration applications like e-commerce and uses in rural and sustainable tourism.

In the framework of the Broadband Society, Guatemala is a country in which the political and economic condition of the same highly influences and limits the telecommunication system of the country, as in many other third world countries. In CECABLE we are collaborating with Latin American research centers to improve communication and telecommunications.

The effects of broadband in music

In recent years, broadband has become an essential tool to transmit data from one place to another. Multiple disciplines have been positively affected by this phenomenon. One example is music industry, which has suffered the consequences of the constant progresses in information and communication technologies (ICT) and Broadband Society. These progresses have been included in all the phases: from the production of the music to the distribution of these contents. We analyze it with Roger Argemí Tutusaus, from UPF.

Regarding to the creation of the songs, the situation has significantly improved since the last century. Editorial companies are the ones in which the authors write songs after the major labels request them hits for their artists. The work of editorial companies is to manage the author rights, strongly associated to the intellectual property and copyright. When authors write songs, they create from different places in the world at the same time. This requires a good connection to the Internet, in order to share large files and to have them mixed and mastered before the deadline. In fact, files are usually uploaded in a WAV format, which means a lot of storage.

Key factors for the Spanish broadband

In the context of the Broadband Society and the Internet access, broadband encloses any high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than dial-up access over traditional analogue or ISDN PSTN services. We analyze it in collaboration with Clàudia Llena.

According to the the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) made by the European Commission on May 2018, the broadband in Spain is very expensive compared to the rest of the countries in the EU. In fact, in 21 countries of the 28 that form the EU, it is cheaper than in Spain to have internet connection. It affects rural and sustainable tourism.

Agraïment per l'èxit de les XXIV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya

Moltes gràcies a totes i a tots! Hem gaudit d'unes XXIV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya boniques, intenses, apassionades, amb una espectacular participació de públic i uns continguts capdavanters. El networking empresarial ha estat constant, i hem pogut llançar idees per aconseguir la universalització de la connectivitat i fórmules creatives per a l'HbbTV

Us adjunto un dels nombrosos impactes mediàtics assolits. De fet, tant en mitjans de comunicación com en xarxes socials hem aconseguit un moviment enorme. Estem contentíssims. Ja comencem a preparar el màgic repte de les XXV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya-2020. Seran 25 anys i ho celebrarem d'allò més!

El HbbTV cataliza las XXIV Jornadas del Cable y la Banda Ancha en Cataluña

¡En pocos días ya llegan! Sí, el 9 y 10 de abril el HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV), el cable y la banda ancha gobernarán el debate científico de las XXIV Jornadas del Cable y la Banda Ancha en Cataluña-2019, organizadas por el Centro de Estudios sobre el Cable (CECABLE), Blanquerna-UniversitatRamon Llull (incluyendo al grupo de investigación INTADTV) Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros Técnicos de Telecomunicación de Cataluña (COETTC) y Acotec (Asociación Catalana de Operadores de Telecomunicaciones por Cable) en el Auditorio Blanquerna de la Universidad Ramon Llull, en el centro de Barcelona. 

El HbbTV refleja la necesidad de un flujo de banda ancha generoso y, a poder ser, garantizado. La Sociedad de la Banda Ancha y el Cloud Journalism se sintetizan en este estándar interactivo que se está expandiendo internacionalmente y que concede el control a las cadenas de televisión, en contraste con un Smart TV en manos de los fabricantes.

Broadband of Badalona: the arrival of the FTTH

In the next post of the blog, we will expose the reality of broadband in Badalona, thanks to the study conducted by Indira Caballero, from UPF. Nowadays, broadband has become a reality in Barcelona due to technological advances. Many municipalities have access to different internet networks to download information and create content, but not all of them carry out the same telecommunication plans. In the developing article we will analyse the implementation of broadband in the town of Badalona, belonging to the district of Barcelonès. 

To begin with, it is essential to define the concept of FTTH (Fiber To The Home). The telecommunications technology consists of the use of fiber optic cabling and optical distribution systems for the provision of Triple Play services (Internet, Telephony and Television) to households, businesses and companies. In addition, FTTH technology allows surfing the Internet to more than 2 Gbps. 

The broadband and tourism in Girona

Nowadays we live in the Broadband Society, in the kingdom of information. This means that all the structure and social, economic, political and culture relations are based in the implantation of new technologies of information and communication (ICT). The municipalities receive the advantages of broadband, like Girona with its tourism, analyzed with Clara Mendoza Sanz, from UPF. 

Broadband takes an important place in this connected world of the XXI century, and we can even talk about the concept of the broadband society. Our generation is constantly looking for an instant access to a wide variety of information and communication wherever we are: when we travel, in the streets or at home. It has become our religion, like tourism. Tourism, broadband and social media, always together.

Broadband snapshot of Italy: impacts in rural and sustainable tourism

We will analyze the Italian broadband in collaboration with Filippo Picerno. Italy, in which rural and sustainable tourism is essential, is linked to Internet and the fist steps of the Broadband Society since 30 April 1986 when the first “ping” message was sended with a computer in Pennsylvania to the Cnuce (“Centro nazionale per il Calcolo Elettronico”) researchers in Pisa, Italy is the fourth country in the world linked to Internet. 

Afterwards the World Wide Web (WWW) birth by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991, in Italy was founded an organization called GARR (“Gruppo per l’Armonizzazione delle Reti deal Ricerca”), its work is to link the major universities and research centers of the country. 

Broadband evolution: the case of Gavà

The telecommunication world has been constantly changing during the last years thanks to all the technological advances that have been appearing in our Broadband Society. Because of that, all the network infrastructures needed to improve to be as actualized as the digital world, and also to have the possibility to offer the best and fastest service. So, all these developments need more bandwidth, especially rural tourism, to let the user be able to have access to these new applications and contents, with less download times and more appropriate costs. 

This is the reason why the broadband development became one of the main purposes of many countries in the world, such as has happened in Spain. The country connected to the Internet for the first time on 1990 and since that moment, theinformation technologies have been constantly evolving and improving. In the present article we analyze, with Laia Calaf Navarro from UPF, the broadband evolution in the concrete case of Gavà, one of the biggest towns from the Baix Llobregat county.

¡Muchas gracias por los 50 millones de páginas vistas del blog!

¡Muchas gracias a todas y a todos por los 50 millones de páginas vistas del blog científico Telecomunicaciones y Periodismo! Es emocionante alcanzar cifras como esta, y también el homenaje por sorpresa recibido en la Universitat Pompeu Fabra, que agradezco de corazón.

  

Se trata de un éxito de todas y de todos, ya que el autor cuenta con numerosos colaboradores (individuales, empresas y entidades), seguidores y lectores que configuran una estimulante comunidad para analizar y debatir sobre la Sociedad de la Banda Ancha y el Cloud Journalism. 

Broadband implementation in the province of Lleida

During a lot of years, great efforts have been carried out to provide this Catalan region with great connection facilities in the Broadband Society. During the first years of the 21st century, broadband arrived to Catalunya, but often in a non-regular way. For this reason, in 2003, during the rise of Internet and communication technologies, the local government, the Generalitat of Catalonia, launched the program ‘Catalunya Connecta’. 

A plan that intended to provide access to the new communication technologies - including broadband - to the Catalan territories, especially within the rural areas. We analyse it in, focused in the Lleida’s reality, essential for tourism, in collaboration with UPF.

Broadband in Catalunya: the gap in rural areas

Broadband is increasing in all European countries; this is also the case of Catalunya. Broadband Society axioms are the universalizations of the service and a guaranteed broadband flow. But, is this broadband network available at the same level in urban and rural areas? We analyze it with Ariadna Coll, from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

One of the latest broadband news that Catalunya received was on September 19 of 2018, published by El Periódico. “Catalunya tightens the accelerator in the ultrafast internet access”. With this title El Periódico explains that Catalunya has stood out in the last years in comparison to other autonomous communities.

Mataró, a powerful broadband connection

Broadband Society is essential for all the municipalities. We will analyze the case of Mataró, with Oriol Agramunt, from Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The capital city of El Maresme has had 95% of broadband penetration for the last 4 years.

                                               Laia l’arquera Sculpture in Mataró  (Image: Oriol Agramunt)

Nowadays European citizens live in the Broadband Society, but it is also true that there is a wide range of broadband penetration depending on the area the people live. The same happens in Spain and Catalonia.

Broadband in Viladecans: a fiber optics challenge

We analyze the Viladecans broadband case in collaboration with Laura Martín Encinas. Nowadays, in the Broadband Society, it is unquestionable that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the basic fundaments of the XXI century society. Getting into this ICT, the networks, and more specifically broadband, are having an impact so revolutionary in our society just as the transport or electric net had in the past. This is due to the broadband internet service is the most used form of Internet access thanks to its high access speed. Moreover, it is usually commercialized with other important services such as fixed and mobile phone service or television. 

Just to give a specific definition of broadband, we have to know that this service offers to the users a permanent data connection and a high transmission capacity to upload and download files by a determined terminal like for example a laptop, a mobile phone or a television. It is offered in four different forms: DSL, fiber optic, cable and satellite. In the present article it will be analyzed which and how is the broadband in the town of Viladecans, belonging to the region of El Baix Llobregat. But first, it will be important to have a general look on this important net in Spain and also specifically in Catalonia.

Agradecimiento por el éxito del I Congreso sobre Banda Ancha y Contenidos Digitales en Cantabria

¡Muchas gracias a todas y a todos por la espectacular acogida al I Congreso sobre Banda Ancha y Contenidos Digitales en Cantabria! En contenidos, ha quedado de manifiesto que el impacto del HbbTV mejora la eficacia del mensaje periodístico y publicitario, y que la banda ancha en Cantabria presenta una salud positiva aunque optimizable.

Las apariciones en medios de comunicación han sido numerosas. He aquí alguna de ellas, a la manera de recogida de conclusiones del I Congreso sobre Banda Ancha y Contenidos Digitales en Cantabria.

¡Feliz 2019!: en enero, el I Congreso sobre Banda Ancha y Contenidos Digitales en Cantabria

¡Comenzamos 2019 tras un gran 2018! Y de inicio organizamos, desde el Centro de Estudios sobre el Cable (CECABLE) y el Centro Universitario Cesine, el I Congreso sobre Banda Ancha y Contenidos Digitales en Cantabria-2019, que se llevará a cabo el 24 y 25 de enero de 2019 con la colaboración de Blanquerna-Universidad Ramon Llull en el Auditorio Cesine (C/ José Simón Cabarga, 6, Santander). La relación entre la creación de contenidos (con el HbbTV a la cabeza) y la banda ancha centrará el ilusionante evento.

La economía digital depende del cloud journalism y de una conectividad universalizada y garantizada que proviene de la Sociedad de la Banda Ancha. Una adecuada combinación de la comunicación y las telecomunicaciones lleva armónicamente al social journalism commerce, esto es, a una sinergia natural, sin forzar, entre los contenidos y la publicidad. El estándar HbbTV puede reconfigurar los lenguajes creativos.