Between promises and results: some ideas about the future challenges of DTT

Abstract

This paper aims to present an overview of the future challenges the digital broadcasting network will have to face, taking into consideration those promises linked to its introduction more than a decade ago and the final outcome they have been turned into. Considering the potential implications the current scenario presents, the possibilities for the development of DTT will be examined. To do so a panoramic analysis will be presented taking into account the technologic, economic, socio-cultural and even aesthetic dimensions of the service, and making focus on the more advanced European and American experiences, though paying special attention to Spain and, when relevant, Latin America and Asia. It is argued that such an approach may be more interesting and less ephemeras than studying the future challenges of DTT in a specific national context due to the recent and partly unfinished nature of the transition to the end of analogue television. Bearing in mind there is a risk of making interpretations scarcely backed by reality,  the main objective here pursued is to understand the way in which the digital broadcasting network might evolve and the place it could have within the audiovisual sector, mainly in relation to its traditional scopes of universal distribution, free access and general programming fulfilled since its configuration as a media.