The Future of Satellite TV: The Wide Range of Applications of the DVB-S2 Standard and Perspectives

The first two generations of TV broadcasting are almost history, at least from the standardization perspective. Analog and digital satellite distributions both have addressed mass markets. The next-generation TV systems are close to primetime deployments: HDTV, 3DTV, interactive services, hybrid services, and additional innovations will dominate the next-generation TV. With the efficiency and maturity of DVB-S2, satellite distribution is a cost-efficient and well-established broadcast technology with significant potential for extensions. In this paper, the future perspectives of digital TV and HDTV broadcasting will be first explored, considering ongoing and future standardization activities that will be carried out. Particular attention to innovative solutions based on adaptive modulation and coding, source and channel coding, and error resilience techniques for satellite TV transmission is paid. In addition to broadcast TV, also the perspectives of hybrid and IPTV will be considered in a satellite scenario with their pros and cons, trying to understand if satellite IPTV will be in competition with “conventional” broadcast satellite TV services (like it already happens in terrestrial scenarios).