CELEX: 51986PC0001
Language: en
Date: 1986-01-22
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE ADOPTION OF COMMON TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF THE MAC/PACKET FAMILY OF STANDARDS FOR DIRECT SATELLITE TELEVISION BROADCASTING

14.3.86                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 59/3
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive on the adoption of common technical specifications of the
                         MAC/packet family of standards for direct satellite television broadcasting
                                                        COM(86) 1 final
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 24 January 1986)
                                                         (86/C 59/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas the implementation of common technical
                                                                   specifications leads to the creation of a large unified
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              market, on which products will be freely exchanged
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100                  without any technical barriers, which will be of great
thereof,                                                           economic benefit for the European consumer electronics
                                                                   industry as regards its competitiveness;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   Whereas it is indispensable that a guarantee be given to
                                                                   manufacturers and broadcasters in respect of their
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                  investments and supplies, by the application of such
liament,                                                           common technical standards at Community level;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   Whereas the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and
Social Committee,                                                  the European manufacturers of the relevant branch
                                                                   represented by their associations have perfected and
Whereas for the purposes of this Directive direct broad-           published technical specifications forming part of the
casting by satellite means a broadcasting satellite service        MAC/packet family for the direct television broad-
as defined in the Radio Regulations of the International           casting and the redistribution of programmes by cable;
Telecommunications Union using channels assigned to
Member States in the 11.7 to 12.5 GHz band at the                  Whereas the MAC/packet family includes:
World Broadcasting Satellite Administrative Radio
Conference (Geneva 1977) and intended for display on               — for direct satellite broadcasting: the system C-MAC/
625 lines domestic TV receivers;                                       packet and the system D2-MAC/packet with
                                                                       frequency modulation,
Whereas, in the near future, satellites for direct television
broadcasting will be placed in orbit by several European           — for cable distribution: the system D-MAC/packet
countries and subsequently new television                 sets         and the system D2-MAC/packet with vestigial-
corresponding to public needs will be introduced by the                sideband amplitude modulation;
manufacturers;
                                                                   Whereas it has been recognized by the European Broad-
Whereas the use of common technical specifications for             casting Union (EBU) and the European manufacturers
direct satellite broadcasting of television programmes             of the relevant branch represented by their associations
and possibly for their redistribution by cable becomes a           that the technical specifications forming part of the
pressing need in order to attain the objectives set out            MAC/packet family and especially the versions C-MAC,
hereafter;                                                         D-MAC and D2-MAC are compatible;
Whereas the implementation of common technical                     Whereas these specifications would make it possible to
specifications simplifies the broadcasting of television           meet the service requirements in the different national
programmes in all countries of the Community and                   contexts and the economic demands of the market;
makes a significant contribution to European unification
and to the development of a true European identity;                Whereas technical progress is liable to require adaptation
                                                                   of the technical specifications defined in the framework
Whereas the technical capability to transmit simul-                of this Directive and of those which will be defined sub-
taneously on several sound channels opens the way to               sequently in the field of direct television broadcasting by
truly pan-European multilingual television programmes;             satellite;
 ---pagebreak---  No C 59/4                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    14.3.86
Whereas it is advisable, in order to facilitate the                                            Article 3
 implementation of the measures necessary for this
 purpose, to provide for a procedure for adaptation to                1.    A committee on the adaptation to technical
 technical progress by means of close cooperation                     progress of the technical specifications related to the
 between the Member States and the Commission within                  direct television broadcasting by satellite and the redistri-
 the framework of a committee;                                        bution of programmes by cable (hereinafter called 'the
                                                                      Committee') is hereby set up. It shall consist of repre-
Whereas the adoption at Community level of common                     sentatives of the Member States with a representative of
 technical specifications for direct satellite broadcasting of        the Commission as chairman.
 television programmes and their redistribution by cable
 corresponds to the measures recommended by the                       2.    The Committee      shall adopt its own rules of
 European Parliament in its resolution of 12 March 1982,             procedure.
 and by the Commission in its communiction to the
 Council of 14 June 1984, referred to as the 'Green                                            Article 4
paper', concerning television without frontiers;
                                                                      1.    Where the procedure laid down in this Article is to
Whereas the Industry-Telecommunications Council                      be followed, matters shall be referred to the Committee
meeting in Luxembourg on 3 June 1985 took a                          by its chairman, either on his own initiative or at the
favourable view of the communication of the                          request of the representative of a Member State.
Commission to the Council recommending the
implementation of common technical specifications of                 2.     The representative of the Commission shall submit
the MAC/packet family,                                               to the Committee a draft of the measures to be adopted.
                                                                     The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                          within a period which shall not exceed two months.
                                                                     Opinions shall be adopted by a majority of 54 votes, the
                                                                     votes of Member States being weighted as provided in
                           Article 1                                 Article 148 (2) of the Treaty.
 1.    Member States shall use the systems forming part              The chairman shall not vote.
of the MAC/packet family; the list of the respective
technical specifications established by the European                 3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures
Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the European manufac-                           envisaged where they are in accordance with the
turers of the relevant branch represented by their                            opinion of the Committee.
associations is shown in the Annex, with an indication of
the reference numbers and the dates of publication.                      (b) Where the measures envisaged are not in
                                                                             accordance with the opinion of the Committee, or
2.     For the direct broadcasting by satellite of television                if no opinion is adopted, the Commission shall
programmes, Member States shall exclusively use the                          without delay propose to the Council the
C-MAC/packet system or the D2-MAC/packet system                              measures to be adopted. The Council shall act by
with frequency modulation.                                                   a qualified majority.
3.     For possible redistribution by cable of these                     (c) If, within three months of the proposal being
programmes, Member States shall use the D-MAC/                               submitted to it, the Council has not acted, the
packet system or the D2-MAC/-packet system with                              proposed measures shall be adopted by the
vertigial-sideband amplitude modulation or, failing that,                    Commission.
the systems already in use at the date on which this
Directive is implemented, as mentioned in Article 5.                                           Article 5
4.     Member States shall select the system or systems of           1.     Member States shall bring into force the provisions
the MAC/packet family which is or are more appro-                    necessary to comply with this Directive at the latest on 1
priate to the present or future structure of their broad-            January 1987 and shall forthwith inform the Commission
casting or cable distribution networks and shall inform              thereof.
the Commission of their option.
                                                                     2.     Member States shall communicate to the
                           Article 2                                 Commission the text of the provisions of national law
                                                                     which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
The amendments necessary to adapt Annex I in line with
technical progress, drawn up by competent international                                        Article 6
organizations, shall be made in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 4.                                    This Directive is adressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- 14.3.86                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                         No C 59/5
                                                               ANNEX
                          List of technical specifications relevant to the MAC/packet family of systems
        1. Television standards for the broadcasting satellite service
           Specification of the C-MAC/packet system
           EBU Doc: SPB 284 (4th revised version), February 1985
        2. Method of conveying C-MAC/packet signals in small and large collective antennas and cable network
           installations.
           Chapter A: Specification of the D-MAC/packet system
           Chapter B: Specification of the D2-MAC/packet system
           Chapter C: Specification of the D2-MAC/packet system with frequency modulation for DBS
           EBU Doc. SPB 352 (revised version), February 1985
        3. Frequency modulation parameters of the D2-MAC/packet system for DBS
           EBU Doc. SPB 368, April 1985