The fifth meeting of the working group on the RSPG’s long-term opinion on equipment for programme making and special events (PMSE1), was held last 21 March, chaired by Austria and attended by representatives from various administrations, the European Commission (EC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
This meeting basically focused on discussing and developing the proposed opinion on PMSE. A new section was also created, particularly to summarise all conclusions of the report.
A highlight of the discussions was the consideration that the spectrum already allocated to PMSE should be used more efficiently. References will be made to ECC Report 204 on “Spectrum Use and Future Requirements for PMSE” and Recommendation ERC 25-10 on “Frequency Ranges for the Use of Terrestrial Audio and Video Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) Applications” that contain detail PMSE definitions.
A decision was made to develop a section on economic and social benefits of PMSE, based on ECC Report 224 on the “Long Term Vision for the UHF Broadcasting Band”. It was noted that PMSE applications generally share frequency bands with other services, though there are exceptions, such as the duplex gap in the 1800 MHz terrestrial mobile service band. It was considered that the use of bands in tune with a higher range should be promoted; also discussed was whether or not there is a need to harmonise more spectrum at European Union level for audio PMSE based on normal use, i.e. excluding large-scale events such as major musical events.
The first version of the proposed opinion should be completed in June 2017 and the final version in November 2017 so it can be submitted to public consultation.
1 The RSPG approved at its 40th meeting on 8 June 2016 the development of an RSPG opinion on PMSE, specifically a long term strategy on spectrum requisites for future use and needs of wireless audio and video PMSE applications. The European Commission wants the long term RSPG opinion on PMSE to verify what impact is expected on PMSE services, bearing in mind the evolution of existing use and the growing need to share spectrum usage; it requested an evaluation of strategic options in terms of spectrum access by wireless audio and video PMSE applications which may supply the necessary quality of services for PMSE applications. This RSPG opinion should moreover provide guidelines about the relevance of a common roadmap to support the audio and video PMSE sector in access to spectrum, taking different national needs into account.
