Spain: Migration countdown speeds up DTT take-up
March 9, 2010
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Two million DTT devices will be sold over the next weeks in the final run to DTT migration to be completed on March 30th, according to a report by the research firm Gigaset.
The DTT sales will surpass 1.3 million DTT devices sold in the last Christmas campaign as more than 15 per cent of Spanish homes are still not ready for DTT. Gigaset says pay DTT and HD services will foster the DTT market as the company estimates that 3 million Spaniards will be interested in pay DTT.
Media company Mediapro, main shareholder in the commercial channel La Sexta and owner of pay DTT channel Gol TV, is finalising a pay DTT platform with four to six channels at a monthly fee of E20 to E25 to be up and running before Summer.
In the meantime, HD DTT trials are taking place across the country in Seville, with RTVA and other regions such as Aragon (Aragón TV HD), Catalunya (TV3 HD), Madrid (Telemadrid HD), Murcia (7 HD), and Valencia (Canal 9 HD). The state-owned TV group RTVE is also implementing HD transmissions in Valladolid with plans to dedicate one of its DTT channels to HD.