According to the data in the report of the Supreme Council of ICT, the market share of payTV is just 30%.  There are about 6M subscribers to payTV services in Turkey, where total number of households is assumed to be 20M. FTA: Free to Air / Ücret ödemeden izlenilen televizyon PayTV subscribers are mainly taking service via satellite, 69%. Cable has a static number of subscribers, which is around 1,2M which makes 20% of payTV and IPTV has more to do, with just 11% of market share. PayTV operators should concentrate on increasing the market itself, before their share in the market. But as nearly all TV channels are FTA in Turkey, it is not a simple task.

It is my pleasure to introduce you Mr. Uygar BOYNUDELİK. He is a friend of mine who is working in the media business in Turkey.  1. Dear Mr. Boynudelik, let me start with a classical question. Can you please introduce yourself for my readers.  Dear Özgür, let me first start by thanking you for regulary writing blog posts and being so sincere and transparent and open-hearted as opposed to the general positioning in the industry. Frankly, I'm a fan of yours, truly :) Anyway, I can simply call myself an engineer who is quite interested in TV technologies. I'm really enjoying reading, writing, researching about it. This is what I do for a living (I’m in charge of STB product management in Turkcell) and also my beloved hobby. I keep writing on www.uygarboynudelik.com in Turkish and on www.turkishtvmarket.info in English since many years. I encourage your readers to have a look my web sites, at the end we’re living in a small industry J

I am glad to post an e-interview with Mr. Andrej Kostrasevic, CEO of Nomads. Before the Q/A, I would like to give a brief information about the Nomads. Mr. Andrej Kostresevic Nomads is a full-stack multiscreen engineering company that specializes in the rapid development of custom direct to consumer Internet-video delivery products. It signature product NomadTV is a comprehensive white label OTT-as-a-service, which lets any content owner launch their own Netflix-like apps for mobile, web and connected devices, with support for the most popular business models - Amazon Video On Demand (AVOD), Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD), and Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD). For more information visit  www.Nomads.co . 1. There is a trend to consume video more then watch TV. With this trend I think that the traditional TV networks will lose power and content creators will have the chance to bargain directly with the new aggregators. On the otherhand this new aggrega...

It is my pleasure to announce that, according to the tweets & news, Turkish Radio & Television Corporation, the public broadcaster of Turkey, starts DVB-T2 4K trials in Ankara.  It is quite interesting as there is still no DTT network in Turkey. TRT 4K is the only channel on DTT trial.  It is broadcasted on 56. channel of UHF band. As far as I know it is one of the first DTT 4K trials all over Europe.  TRT 4K will broadcast the openning, quarter, semi & final matches of the European Football Championship. 

Since October 2015, HD Radio is owned by the DTS . I recently read a press release on the HD Radio by DTS. I want to share some important issues of this press release Acquired by DTS in October of last year, HD Radio technology is the only digital broadcast system approved by the FCC for AM/FM radio in the U.S. offering new FM channels, crystal-clear sound and advanced data services with no subscription fees. HD Radio technology was built into approximately 37% of cars sold in the U.S. in 2015 across all 36 available vehicle brands and more than 200 models. More than 2,300 radio stations have upgraded to HD Radio technology, including 98 of the top 100 stations in the top 10 U.S. markets. The latest updates from HD Radio include: A variety of new car models arriving on the market this year will feature HD Radio receivers, including the Hyundai Ioniq,  Kia Niro , Toyota Mirai, Toyota 86, Audi R8 Spyder, Lexus LC and Alfa Romeo Giulia. The Acura NSX will feature DT...

I have to admit that I have missed the recent update of the sub-act about the DTT in Turkey. Actually the update is somehow out of date: 27 October 2015.  According to this update the format of the DTT in Turkey is set to be DVB-T2 HEVC. It was declared as to be DVB-T2 MPEG4, in 2013.  So with the latest update of the sub-act, Turkey is going to be the first country in Europe to have a DVB-T2 HEVC network.  Some argue that to choose HEVC, rather than MPEG4 is a wrong decision, as the prices of the receivers with HEVC are still higher, comparing with the devices with MPEG4. Actually, this statement was true in 2014, but I believe it is not valid anymore. The consumer electronics equipment prices decrease dramatically. Nowadays one can easily find the UHDTVs in any market, so it will not be that hard to find DVB-T2 with HEVC.  Also, Korea, the land of Samsung & LG, has shown that it is possible to send UHD over DTT. So, I believe Samsung & LG...

As you know I keep trying to follow the technical developments & comment on them in broadcast sector of Turkey. You may not know that, this effort cost me a lot.  I decided to stop doing this. And stopped to post in this blog. I also close down my LinkedIn account, which was quite helpful in following the progress of the technical issues.  Then, I figured out that, I was trying to follow the progress of the technical issues, not for any favor but for the sake of my health. I mean, what I did, was not to become a manager, not to find a new job but, it was an instinct.  So, I restart to do, what I believe I should do! Keep following this blog to get information from the broadcasting in Turkey.

I regret to inform all my followers that this is my last post on this blog. When I first started to post about the technical issues of radio & television in Turkey, I hoped that, as the time passes, I would be able to attend the international events as invited speaker.  I do not & will not take any ads on this site. So to finance my trips, it was necessary to be invited as speaker. But, the plan has not become a reality. So, I have to stop here. I am not sure if I would have the energy, to start again. All I know is, I tried at least.  I will not close down the site & will keep the posts as an archive.  I would like to thank all, who read & commented on the posts. 

It is my pleasure to announce the important white paper from DVB. The report , which is of 80 pages, is dealing with the DTT.  The report or more correctly White Paper, is dated November 2015, which is quite new. It starts with stating that, Linear TV will not die as fast as many think. Although on-demand gain market share, because of "live events" there will always be a need for Linear TV. Another reason for Linear TV is that people, actually "want" someone to make a schedule for them. Sounds strange for you, but it is also my observation :) The white paper, is also dealing with the need for capacity. As you well know the frequency band for terrestrial television has decreased dramatically and it seems that with the lost of 700 MHz, will continue to decrease. According to white paper, DVB-T2 HEVC, offers enough enhancement to fulfill the requirement of a more efficient way of terrestrial standart. Whereas the need for a back channel, is still a problem to be...

Time to time, it becomes extremely difficult for me to follow up the progress in technology. The main reason for this is nothing but MONEY :)  I have to finance all my trips to events, at which I have the chance to meet colleagues from industry and ask my questions. But, for some events, the cost for the event is too high, like the DVB World Congress in Venice. Although I bought the tickets for the flight & booked a hotel on my own, it seems that I will not find a way to attend the event, as it is not possible for me to pay 1000 € for a two day congress. The title of this post is again on the same issue, the unability to attend the events. As you may already know, there is a hot topic in the digital radio world: Sweden. It is a country of social democrats and a heaven for some, because of this. This Nordic country, has been trying the digital radio for many years and now decided not to proceed any more. It is quite interesting as another Nordic, Norway, is p...

I had the chance to attend a workshop organized by DigiTAG. It was an NGO, to promote digital terrestrial television. Recently I heard that DigiTAG will continue its mission under DVB-PCM.  I have to say that for professionals like me, DVB is not close enough to get information. It is not possible to attend their conference, DVB World, as it is too expensive to finance on you own. But the events organized by DigiTAG was not that expensive.  I hope that, DVB, reorganize itself with this DigiTAG to help all, in this sector. 

@ Istanbul, 2015 As you may well know, in Turkey, we still do not have any DTT investment. It is not yet clear, weather we will have in future. According to the Act 6112, it is definitely clear that Turkey will build DTT network, but the strict dates, the dates for the ASO which were in the Act, are now not clear. Which confuses every body in the broadcast sector.  Recently, actually yesterday, an important announcement was made by the EBU, on the spectrum usage. This announcement, which can be read through this link , points the problems which may occur if the usage of 700 & even sub700 band is shared with non broadcast services before the pre announced date which was set to be 2030.  These issues surely makes the discussion, should Turkey start to build DTT or looks for other solution, more meaningful.  I will try to keep you updated with the discussions in Turkey. 

Mr. Wenzel @ Amsterdam RAI, 2015 As those of you, who read my blog, well know I have been interviewing about digital radio solutions. I made interview with the head of DAB & DRM organizations; namely Mr. Patrick Hannon & Ms. Ruxandra Obreja. I also had chance to speak with Mr. Attila Ladanyi, CTO of T&C Holding. The interview with Dr. Peter Siebert, CEO of DVB Project Office, was, some how, also on digital radio.  Now, it is time to read another alternative approach. This time, I send my questions to Mr. Kenneth Wenzel. Many, know him as the man from Denmark, who tells that DVB-T2 Lite is enough for also digital radio. He is the CEO of U-Media ApS. I had the chance to meet Mr. Wenzel twice, one in Tallinn in 2013 and the second in Amsterdam in 2015. I also had the chance to saw his demo in Amsterdam, showing that radio over DVB-T2 Lite, actually works fine even on cell phones.  I personally want to thank to Mr. Wenzel, for his time... 1. Can yo...

Finally, it is possible to reach the service of Netflix from Turkey. As a technology blogger, it is, in a way, my duty to comment on this important development.  I first want to share some figures from Turkish TV market. The data set is available for public access through the web page of the Supreme Council. Data is published as quarterly and latest is Q3 of 2015, which is published in December 2015. Total number of households is taken as 22 M: According to the data set, that I shared the link above, there are totally 5.994.631 subscribers in Turkey, to the TV services. The distribution of these subscribers are as follows: As you see above, the percentage is same :) There four Direct To Home Satellite PayTV Operators in Turkey, namely Digiturk, DSmart, FillBox & Tivibu. Total number of subscribers of these services is 4.367.153 There is one cable TV operator, which is Turksat, state owned & also the satellite operator. There are two IPTV operators: Tivi...