Kerman Calleja, Sales Director for the national market of FAGOR MULTIMEDIA SOLUTIONS

If some decades ago it was claimed that television would kill radio -and time has shown that this has not been the case-, for some time now there has been a debate about the supposed decline of free-to-air television and, consequently, of the Second Generation Common Telecommunications Infrastructure (ICT2). Is this perception true, and is 'TV' dead? Recent examples cast doubt on it: in September, RTVE premiered La Revuelta, a program that managed to attract 2 million viewers, revitalizing audiences that some believed were lost and perhaps simply abandoned. More recently, the coverage of the disaster caused by the DANA in Valencia had a huge following on all television networks, confirming the value of the medium at key moments. Both cases demonstrate the relevance, usefulness and interest of free-to-air television today.

Technological evolution, a business driver
Spain has always been committed to this medium. Unlike other countries - where there is no clear standard on how to make the installations and consequently the quality of the signal received and the image varies greatly from one building to another - it has a legislation that guarantees a state-of-the-art technological infrastructure. This has allowed a permanent technological evolution: first there was the transition from black and white to color, then came the private ones, then the transition from analog to digital and from there to HD. Each change has generated business opportunities for manufacturers, distributors and installers. The next technological milestone to come will be the integration of the IoT node in the telecommunications infrastructures of our homes, as well as in buildings in the tertiary sector. This update of the regulations affecting common telecommunications infrastructures - currently being drafted by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade - will make it possible to manage connected devices in the home and will offer users the possibility of monitoring and managing data over the Internet.

ICT and the IoT node: efficient connectivity
The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) in recent years has been spectacular: from smart watches that accompany us all day long, to the oven or heating that we can turn on from our cell phone, to smart TVs or speakers that we can ask by voice to raise the blinds - if we have a home automation system. Practically all the electronics in the home can become a connected element. This implies the need to have a node that concentrates all this data flow, which users and professionals can access to monitor and manage them through any internet device. In short, the centralized node will allow this intelligent connectivity to be managed and monitored efficiently.

Chorus: connectivity and innovation for installers
In the tertiary sector, this need is not new. Long before the modification of the regulations affecting common telecommunications infrastructures, Fagor detected the importance of monitoring and managing professional equipment. An example of the solutions developed for this purpose is the Chorus platform, which already has more than 30,000 connected devices.

Fagor Multimedia Solutions' Chorus platform allows professionals to remotely access their installed headends and modify different parameters (such as output levels or services), as well as perform preventive maintenance. It can also, for example, perform a remote diagnosis in case of receiving a notice from a community and know which element is not working, and thus go with the appropriate spare part to make the repair.

Among the benefits provided by Fagor multimedia Solutions' Chorus platform, the following stand out:

- The possibility of performing remote diagnostics that speed up repairs.

- The reduction of displacements, reducing the environmental impact.

- Greater efficiency and speed in customer service, improving their experience.

On the other hand, tools such as Chorus promote the contracting of recurring maintenance services, which ensures that the facilities are in an optimal state and allows the installer to have a recurring income. This practice, which is currently unevenly spread in Spain, has great potential to benefit both installers and end users. In this sense, collaboration and communication between installers, property managers and manufacturers is of great importance in order to provide the end user with innovative solutions, as well as to detect their needs.

In this way, manufacturers will be able to develop products adapted to the needs of the market. In short, 'TV' is not dead, but it has changed, and will change even more. The multimedia sector is in constant evolution -as it has always been- and from Fagor Multimedia Solutions we continue to bet with innovation and commitment to contribute to the growth of a sector full of opportunities.