ESC opinion: Standards for satellite broadcasting of TV signals
The Economic and Social Committee (ESC) adopted on 28 November 1991, by a large majority, an opinion on the Commission's amended proposal for a Council Directive on the adoption of standards for satellite broadcasting of television signals (COM(91) 530 of 6.12.1991). The Committee points out that compatibility between old and new equipment and between the different systems (D-MAC, PAL and SECAM) is at the heart of the debate on the usefulness of the MAC packet rout to HDTV. Conscious that no other existing route provides for this, the Committee renews its support for a set of standards which have the great merit of being compatible with existing systems and home equipment and which are European in conception and ownership. Commenting on specific Articles, the Committee considers that D2-MAC decoders should be required only on sets capable of receiving satellite transmissions (rather than on all sets with screens bigger than 52 cm), and also points out that the possibility of abuse in matters of intellectual property in respect of encryption systems, as well as the D2-MAC and HD-MAC systems in general, needs to be addressed in some way.