Poznań Media Expo 2011 - summary

This year, the Poznań Media Expo 2011 trade fair has been designed according to somewhat different formula than the previous two editions of 2009 and 2010. Both the trade fair and the conference were oriented towards one major topic: implementation of the terrestrial  digital television, from the perspective of both the benefits and risks it poses for the recipient – the viewer.

„Digital Television for everyone”, the slogan all the trade fair events were focused on, was being discussed from three main perspectives.

First of all – the complete shutdown  of the analogue television in the middle of  2013 will expose about 30% of Polish households receiving television from terrestrial transmitters only, to the necessity to purchase and install the appropriate receivers as well as to acquire skills necessary to handle them. For poorer part  of the society, as well as for the elderly and helpless people, it will cause both the economic and the practical problem. This is the group which is potentially exposed to foreclosure, as they may lose access to television completely. 

Secondly – for the disabled and people with sight and hearing deficiency, digital television offers many opportunities of additional functions and services whose implementation in analogue television was either impossible or very limited. It primarily refers to the broadcasters providing broader access than ever before to television transmissions with subtitles for persons with hearing dysfunctions as well as broadcasts supplemented with so-called audio description, which means detailed description of situations and actions happening on the screen for people who are blind or suffer from serious sight deficiency. Owing to digital television, this group of citizens (amounting to about 5 million in Poland) may avoid foreclosure, providing that they have appropriate equipment and access to services which are dedicated for them.

Thirdly – knowledge on digitalization, and primarily on dates of shutdown of the analogue television as well as on the ways of preventing oneself from losing any access to television, is quite limited in the society. The way of preparing the citizens, making them aware of the necessity and benefits of the analogue to digital conversion, shall become the key factor underlying the success of this process.

On the first day, the presentations focused on prevention of people’s digital foreclosure, with focus on the poor, the helpless and the disabled. The speakers included  representatives of the biggest Polish social organisations taking care of disabled people as well as people living in difficult material and life situation. Their  presentations were extremely moving and informative.

On every day basis we are not aware how many difficulties must the disabled people face in order to participate in social life. The general society should help them in coping with these problems through acceptance of their diversity and providing them with access to facilities allowing for relatively normal functioning of the disabled people. During the conference, ways of implementing of such facilities were presented, based among others on offering not only such services as subtitles or audio description, but also devices enabling access to the services.

Another important problem is lack of possibility to purchase digital television equipment by households living in poverty or on the verge of poverty. During the conference, examples of solutions used in other European countries were presented, and attention was drawn to the necessity to develop comprehensive and systemic solutions in our country in order to prevent this kind of foreclosure, since it should be kept in mind that for the majority of people in this group, television is the only source of information and entertainment. 

Another problem discussed during this part of the conference was the information – educational policy and its role in the process of analogue to digital conversion.

It should be underlined, to our great satisfaction, that the conference was attended by a representative of the European Commission as the authority which pays special attention to the problem of European citizens being exposed to the risk of digital foreclosure. This interest is reflected in the recently adopted document called the Digital Agenda for Europe.  The representative of the Office of the Human Rights Defender informed the participants on activities being undertaken by this authority in favour of the disabled, particularly with respect to improvement of the relevant legislation.  

The participants assessed the first day of the trade fair and the conference as extremely interesting and useful, dealing with particularly significant social issues.

The second day of the trade fair was the element of promotion of terrestrial digital television which is definitely missing in every day life. The choice of this subject was really reasonable which was reflected by significant response from the inhabitants of Poznań, both at the exhibition of equipment and during the parallel presentation  sessions The visitors had the opportunity to learn from experts about advantages of the digital television, schedule of its implementation as well as to obtain advice on issues one should pay attention to while buying the digital receiver or decoder. The trade fair stands demonstrated next to the venue of the conference, offered a possibility to get acquainted with specific offer of recognized manufacturers of receivers, aerials and installation accessories.

The  most technologically advanced equipment displayed at the trade fair was awarded with the prize Digital Super Product of Poznań Media Expo 2011.

The promotion of the terrestrial digital television ended with the information session and show of the digital broadcasting which looks forward to its great days to follow the completion of the analogue to digital conversion in television.

The formula of the trade fair Poznań Media Expo adopted this year, focused on one of the selected subjects, has definitely defended itself successfully. The formula of close cooperation with the national media regulator – KRRiT has also proved useful. We are looking forward to the next edition of Poznań Media Expo in 2012, simultaneously hoping that it will again concentrate on another important social issue. Such events are missing in Poland.