Digital Television in Europe and Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT The decision of the FCC in the United States to select an all-digital HDTV system was a surprise to HDTV supporters in Europe and Japan. Both had adopted hybrid systems with both analog and digital features. Western Europe was quicker than Japan to move away from its previous arrangements. It dropped HD-MAC in June 1993 and moved on to create the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) group to support digital television. It also responded by increasing EU support for wide-screen standard definition television programming and manufacturing. In Japan, NHK and its allies strongly resisted the idea of abandoning MUSE Hi- Vision but some of the major consumer electronics manufacturers and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) wanted to speed up the transition to an all-digital HDTV system. NHK was able to delay adoption of all-digital HDTV approach until mid-1997. In this article, I consider these two stories separately, and then try to explain the differences in the reactions of the two regions.