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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HELSINKI 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/CIP/BA WHITNEY WITTEMAN 
FCC FOR TRACEY WEISLER 
COMMERCE FOR NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION 
ADMINISTRATION (NTIA) / CHRISTINA SPECK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECPS FI
SUBJECT: LESSONS LEARNED FROM FINLAND'S CONVERSION TO 
DIGITAL TELEVISION 
 
 
¶1. (U) On September 1, 2007 Finland became one of the first 
countries in the world to broadcast all television signals 
digitally.  Econoff recently sat down with Mr. Tauno Aijala, 
Project Manager of the switch-over at the Ministry of 
Transport and Communications, to gather best practices from 
an early adopter of digital television. 
 
¶2. (U) Although Finland originally began broadcasting digital 
television signals in 2001, nearly fifty percent of Finnish 
households received analog terrestrial television broadcasts 
until a few months before the switch-over to digital 
transmissions last fall.  Despite being a large country 
geographically by European standards and sparsely populated 
in many regions, over 99.999 percent of the Finnish public 
now has access to digital television broadcasts.  An early 
adopter, Finland is well ahead of the EU mandate that all 
television broadcasts be digital by 2012. 
 
¶3. (U) The digital television discussion has had a lengthy 
history in Finland, dating back to 1996 when the GOF issued 
its "resolution on digitalization".  Following a series of 
milestones, the Finnish Parliament determined that all 
analogue television transmissions would cease by August 31, 
¶2007.  Although Finland is a technically savvy country, there 
was some measured opposition and resentment of the impending 
transition, particularly from the country's senior citizens. 
Working with key stakeholders such as TV stations, equipment 
manufacturers and key retailers, the GOF organized a major 
information campaign to educate and inform people about the 
digital switch-over.  The stakeholders also funded a free 
"Digi-TV Info" helpdesk that has fielded over 100,000 calls 
to date.  The GOF worked with local service organizations, 
such as the Lions Club, to provide assistance for those 
needing extra installation help. 
 
¶4. (U) Preferring to use a carrot rather than a stick, the 
GOF accentuated the positive aspects of the switch-over 
including clearer transmissions and increasing the number of 
free channels from five to twelve.  The digital conversion 
also made possible additional options for subtitling (Finland 
is a dual-language country), voice subtitling (reading the 
subtitles in foreign language programming), an Electronic 
Program Guide (EPG) and digital teletext services.  However, 
unlike the planned U.S. conversion to digital television in 
February 2009, Finland did not offer any subsidies for the 
set-top boxes required to receive digital television. 
 
¶5. (U) Finland has reallocated the frequency band previously 
used for analogue television into nine multiplexes. 
Currently four of the nine multiplexes are allocated for 
digital television broadcasts, including one multiplex for 
television broadcasts to mobile devices.  The remaining four 
have yet to be allocated; many propose using themfor 
additional wireless services or to support eergency response 
communications. 
 
¶6. (U) Critic of the innish conversion to digital continue 
t bemoan the fact that current broadcasts and many f the 
set-top boxes are not HDTV-ready.  Hence, inns will have to 
endure another migration before true HDTV broadcasts will be 
supported.  Also, Finland's tight multiplex bandwidth 
allocation will further complicate the eventual move to HDTV. 
 Likewise, many cite the lack of support for Multimedia Home 
Platform (MHP), something that was originally promised in the 
move to digital transmissions.  Rather than supporting 
interactive TV through interoperable middleware, Finnish 
broadcasters instead are relying on SMS text messaging and 
Internet sites to provide the "interactive" component.  While 
this approach has been quite successful in Finland, many 
tech-savvy Finns still say dropping support MHP was 
shortsighted. 
 
¶7. (U) Lessons Learned from an Early Adopter: 
============================================= 
Mr. Aijala created a brief outline for interested parties 
highlighting Finnish best practices in the transition to 
digital TV.  This document, entitled "Learning by Doing", has 
been shared with other EU countries converting to digital 
broadcasts.  Below is a partial list of his suggestions, with 
Embassy edits added in brackets. 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
¶1. Create a brand image by using a famous actor or animated 
figure to promote digitalization. 
¶2. Use only a few key points in promotions: new channels, new 
 
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content, better quality of sounds and picture, Electronic 
Program Guide. 
¶3. Only use the carrot.  Don't threaten with a black screen. 
Keep on talking about the advantages of the new services. 
¶4. Hire an experienced spokesman with a TV-background (to 
lead the project).  Strong connections to the media companies 
are needed. 
¶5. Create a panel of experts representing the (appropriate 
government) ministry, TV-channels, the distributors of the 
TV-channels, the regulatory authorities, the consumer agency, 
the cable TV companies, wholesalers and retailers.  Gather 
and distribute information (extensively).  Use everyone's 
expertise. 
¶6. Create a single taskforce to coordinate all aspects of the 
switch (over).  The group needs to have power to make 
decisions and its own budget. 
¶7. National and local information services are needed to 
inform the consumer on proper aerial (antenna) and where to 
direct it. 
¶8. Meet the nation.  Organize roadshows to visit cities. 
People have many questions and opinions (to share). 
¶9. Set up a Digi-TV Info hotline three years before the 
digital switch-over.  (It should be) financed by all actors 
in the digital TV business, including wholesalers (and 
product manufactures). 
¶10. A neutral organization is needed to test and approve 
(local compatibility of) set-top boxes. 
¶11. Make sure there are enough set-top boxes available with a 
variety of features and in all price ranges. 
¶12. Voluntary organizations are willing to help the elderly 
people install their boxes. 
¶13. Research (market) penetration, (consumer) attitudes, 
(product) reliability and price ranges. 
¶14. Make the decisions concerning (broadcast) frequencies on 
time.  Terrestrial network operators need time (to prepare 
systems). 
END TEXT 
 
¶8. (U) Comment: Mr. Aijala candidly shared insightful 
comments about areas in which Finland could have improved its 
implementation.  He will soon be traveling to a number of 
countries to share best practices from Finland's conversion 
to digital broadcasting, and he has expressed willingness to 
visit with interested parties in the U.S. in the future. 
Econoff has a series of presentations in digital format that 
are available to interested parties (contact 
lewisgk@state.gov).  End comment. 
HYATT