The roads to TV digitalization

• Grant number: 13/22889-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Radio and Television
• Principal Investigator: Sérgio Bairon Blanco Sant'Anna
• Grantee: Deisy Fernanda Feitosa Roman
• Supervisor: Alberto Marinelli
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/20856-4 - Digital TV and Hypermedia: A New Language, A New Community, BP.DR

Abstract

We live in an era of abundance, of worldwide multiplication and the aggregation of everything around us. Multi is a prefix derived from the Latin word multus, which means "in abundance, numerous, in large quantity". It manages to translate the possibilities and action of the derived convergence of a binary system marked by a polyvalence of tools, gadgets and connections between people and things, which thus transforms the planet into a "global village", foretold so many years ago by Marshall McLuhan. Within this context, digital technology, such as cell phones, computers, and even television receptive devices are no longer fulfilling the original function for which they were developed, but rather constituting themselves, due to the interoperability between systems and the internet, in manners that conjoin services and languages. Thus, the internet operates as an expansion facilitator for communication and informational processes that occur on a digital basis and that contribute, mainly, to the worldwide circulation of content, products and services. With this project, I plan to go deeper in the symbolic processes that permeate digital interactivity, constituted by a new communicative dwelling that is based on participation, the free publication of thoughts, and social sharing and monitoring. These tendencies have gained force, especially, with the rise of social networks and digital media on the internet. In addition, in order to understand the position that television occupies in this context - my object of research - I seek to expound on the social changes and implications in Brazil and around the world, brought to this medium by the digital system, which is currently going through a reinvention, integration and technological phase and is receiving new configurations. The research does a follow-up on the post-implementation scenario of digital TV in European countries and expounds on the influences and changes brought about to society's daily life and to the public spaces by the digital system and by technical convergence. Brazil has been going through simulcast in the past seven years, or, in other words, it has been going through a period of simultaneously transmitting analog signal and digital television. The DTV technology implementation order is as follows: large, medium and small cities. The government foresees the total switch-off of analog by 2016, in compliance to a digital television switch-off plan. However, there are many challenges yet to be faced. In this regard, the purpose for completing the International Research Internship comes from the need to collect information on European countries, such as Italy, which have already gone through this transition phase and to compare it with Brazil's current scenario and understand which government policies were applied in order to have a successful transition to the signal's transmitters and receptors. Analysis activities, technical visits to universities and European broadcasting stations as well as the search for official historical documents will help me write one chapter of my doctoral thesis, "Digital TV and Hypermedia: A New Language, A New Community", the main body of work to which this research is linked to. This research is also focused on identifying examples of how digital media has contributed to the disclosure of socially organized action and how them have conversed in the language of television. (AU)