The details of 200 election channels were explained/trial broadcasts of some areas have started – Mehr news agency Iran and world’s news
Mehr News Agency – Art Group – Atieh Moezen; The Islamic Council elections will be held in March of this year, and the national media is going to welcome the elections with a new plan for the first time. A plan that has been mentioned by Peyman Jabali, the head of Sedavasima, in various situations. A plan about the launch of 200 election channels, which is supposed to be created based on the electoral districts, and of course a little less than the number of districts. There are 208 constituencies and Sadaosima plans to launch 200 election channels so that the candidates of the Islamic Council can share their views and concerns with the people.
To find out about the merits and demerits of holding this project, we went to Alireza Sharifi, the vice president of media development and technology, who is at the head of the technical and structural designs of this project.
Alireza Sharifi has been in the technical department of the organization for 28 years and has worked as the deputy of this deputy for many years. He answered some of our questions about the plan to launch 200 channels in a conversation that took place in his office at Sedavsima Organization.
* Where did the initial spark of creating and launching 200 election channels come from and how did you reach such a conclusion?
The role of the vice president of development and technology in the broadcasting organization is to maintain the technical infrastructure of the organization and develop it according to the strategies it finds in the transfer of new technologies. In the discussion of 200 channels, we first had to create a separate understanding of how this is possible. This is the progress that has been made over the years. An audience that in a distant village and province could only receive national networks and now has a provincial network. Now, in addition to these provincial networks, it can also receive exclusive channels.
The initial spark of this project belongs to three months ago. Since according to the law in the previous years, Sedavsima was not allowed to cover the advertisements of parliamentarians, but now Sedavsima, which has a governing role, wants to use this capacity to create a competitive and good electoral environment. This permission has been given to the organization and in return for granting the permission it has received, it wants to do this work efficiently. In the country, we suddenly hear that 50,000 people are candidates for the Islamic Council elections, and in the end, about 300 people enter the parliament, and this was a question of how we can give time to these people.
* Was it really a challenge for you how to offer advertising opportunities among all these candidates?
Yes, and our question was that, for example, how can a candidate for the city of Najaf Abad, Isfahan, come to speak on the national network for all of Iran, while his words are naturally not the concern of other cities. It became a problem for us to see if the opportunity can be allocated in such a way that each candidate speaks only in his own city and province. I had an idea about urban television when I was in this deputy position. We used to have a city radio that took off. There was a consideration about urban television, and it was that the organization cannot easily hand over the television stations to others and must operate under its own control. However, urban television was an idea close to what the head of the national media asked me to see how to have a channel for each district and not for the whole country.
*And in your opinion, it was not a very new or challenging idea?
At the same time, I announced at the meeting of the organization’s deputies that this is possible, but it is very difficult, and I even told Mr. Jabali that if you want for one or two points, I will implement it in 10 days, but it has complications for the whole country. One problem is that the broadcast areas of our stations are not designed based on electoral districts, and in terms of signal coverage, we work with the population, not with the electoral district.
*Currently, how many distribution points do we have in the country and how did you arrive at the division for constituencies?
We have 7 thousand points. If we could build a height higher than all existing heights in the middle of the country, that is, about one kilometer, for example, twice the height of the Milad tower, and then we would have a transmitter with a power of one megawatt, or in other words, one million watts, which could signal to the whole of Iran, but now we have to It should be divided locally and locally in the whole country, like mobile antennas, where there should be telecommunications masts in every country.
About signaling, if I want to explain the story with a smaller example, we can refer to water piping that is injected from one source with the same pressure to different networks. Now you want to design this network in such a way that each house has its content separate from another house and for example water goes to one house and oil to another house. This is the difficulty and challenge of work.
*If you want to explain signaling in a technical way, what are the examples?
Not much can be said about the details of this plan because the information is classified. However, the audience may not have had the experience of being able to receive TV within 100 kilometers and then receive another channel by changing the location. This change of the network by moving the location has been more in the field of radio networks, which realized that in a long change of location, it can no longer receive a network. The design of these canals is the same, and it has been tried to ensure that every area has a coverage of the canal so that you cannot access that canal by passing through that area and moving away from that area.
These 200 channels are not available on television and advertising programs will be presented in a different way, these channels are not received through satellite. * In Tehran, we can receive some provincial channels through television or satellite, is it the same for these channels?
These 200 channels are not available on television and advertising programs will be presented in a different way, these channels are not received through satellite. As mentioned, we have 7,000 broadcast points, but we cannot implement this idea in all of them, instead, 250 stations are selected from among them. We plan in such a way that these stations broadcast the exclusive content of the desired region.
* Should this coordination be coordinated with the provincial broadcasting center? Where is the infrastructure of these signals provided?
All these are summarized in Tehran itself and then sent to different areas through signaling. The signaling of these happens in a very complex network, and during this process, the content reaches different areas with a special coding.
* Can these 200 channels remain and be exploited and used in different spaces or should they be collected after a certain time?
This work requires expensive arrangements and equipment.
* What equipment does it need?
For example, we have provided equipment for these stations that they did not need before. It is a technical equipment, but one of its merits is that they receive the content in a preselective and selective manner.
*How much did it cost?
The cost for the stations is about 1 billion, and add all these costs together, about 250 billion have been spent.
* Is this equipment imported?
Thank God, it is often local and we already had the experience of making them in the country, where we had a part as a depot in the warehouse and a part from the manufacturer.
We have considered this project for the same week that the candidates can advertise, and these seven days have been planned with many preparations, and if it wants to continue, it needs more expenses, more personnel, and structural changes.
*Does this equipment bring anything other than elections?
Anyway, these are infrastructure equipment of the organization and there is no bypass. At the same time, it is not so easy to say that we will use it later. I want to give a smaller example, a weightlifter can lift a weight several times but cannot hold it continuously.
We have considered this project for the same week that the candidates can advertise, and these seven days have been planned with many preparations, and if it wants to continue, it needs more expenses, more personnel, and structural changes. Especially since it does not cover all areas.
* There were supposed to be 200 constituencies out of 208.
There are 200 districts, but we have problems in some places, for example, one of our channels is sent to 2 districts and it is not separated, or some villages may not receive the districts.
* So why not try to make this coverage happen completely?
First, we have little time, if we wanted to have all the technical assurances, we should not have accepted so quickly. We took a big risk and a small test was done for it.
What stations did this test include?
It was a test that was done in Tehran itself. We took the Tehran test in Vanak area and it was broadcasted in Jam Jam itself with our own transmitter and we showed Mr. Jabali that we can do it. However, there are many challenges in this plan. Machining the equipment, finding specialist contractors to manufacture the equipment.
* Do these channels also have trial broadcasts?
Now the trial broadcast of some election channels has started. Qazvin, Zanjan and some other channels have trial broadcasts and soon we will launch 13 provinces.
* So isn’t it like this that the broadcast will start only during the election period itself?
no Due to the stresses that exist, the work cannot be brought to the same final time frame. On the other hand, our workforce is working around the clock.
* Has a force been added for this work?
no This is a specialized job and cannot be brought in from outside. No one cares. In the organization itself, not everyone can have complete information about the entire process. A team goes to work, comes back, and another team goes and does its own specialty. But the final plan is with us.
The audience can research the channel in their province and find these channels with a search again at the announced time.
* And how many provinces will be finalized soon?
13 provinces, each of which included 4 channels, will be launched in the first stage. The audience can research the channel in their province and find these channels with a search again when it is announced. On these channels, there will be a logo indicating the electoral area on the channel and they can receive the programs.
* Do you know about the content of the channels themselves, how is the programming? Is it live or productive or conversational?
The bottom line for now is that the content is not live because we have a lot of candidates who need to upload their content. The recorded formats must all be the same and have no difference. This content is broadcast throughout the day and night, and each content is likely to have multiple streams.
*Doesn’t the audience get tired of watching advertising videos for 24 hours? Especially since it could be possible for anyone to upload videos on TV?
no After all, the audience needs to see this content and be able to understand it. At the very beginning, we also suggested television, but the problem was that, statistically, the entire country does not have the possibility to use smartphones. Television cannot be publicized and many people do not have access to it. Television itself can be received in terms of signaling and in terms of technology, it is more open than us, but not all people have access to smartphones, and on the other hand, people outside Tehran are more familiar with television.
* What do you think will be your biggest challenge in this plan?
My biggest concern in this plan is about common areas. The completion of the plan is a logical event that we proceed based on two, two, four, and of course trust in God. In fact, we are moving forward by relying on a kind of engineering science, which is clear from the beginning if it is impossible. Based on this science, we avoid words and ideas that we have doubts about, and we are confident that this plan will be implemented by trusting in God. We are not worried about it. The only concern is that the people who are in each area cannot properly separate these channels because it is a wave and it may go beyond the respective area and become common in some places. It means that people have access to 2 constituencies close to each other.
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