Advanced Television

DSO

India close to DSO

Prasar Bharati, India’s public broadcaster, says it has already converted about 70 percent of its analogue terrestrial transmitters to digital. It adds it will have converted the remaining analogue transmitters to digital by March 31st next year. However, India will retain about 50 analogue transmitters for “strategic use”. The conversion task is considerable and covers […]

October 12, 2021By Chris Forrester

S Africa: Digital roll-out problems

eMedia Holdings, which owns the popular e.tv channels and Openview services in South Africa, is taking the government to court over declaring March 2022 closure of all analogue TV services. Indeed, the nation’s communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has ordered that analogue TV end their broadcasts by January 31st. eMedia has filed papers with South Africa’s […]

October 7, 2021By Chris Forrester

South Africa confirms digital timetable

South Africa, after almost a dozen false starts, will switch off its analogue TV transmissions by March 2022. The adoption of digital TV is some 10 years late and, while digital broadcasting is already a reality in some parts of the nation, it is far from nationwide. South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, following a cabinet […]

October 4, 2021By Chris Forrester

Italy: €100 DVB T-2 switch grant

From August 23rd, Italian households can apply for a subsidy towards the purchase of TV sets compatible with the new DVB T-2/HEVC Main 10 DTT transmission standard. According to a decree published by the Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (Ministry of Economic Development), the subsidy consists of a 20 per cent discount on the purchase price […]

August 9, 2021From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Italy postpones MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 switchover

Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development has presented a roadmap in which it proposes the postponement of the DTT switchover from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 from September 1st 2021 to the September 1st 2022. The decision comes after both the Italian government and broadcasters realized that it is not possible to meet the initial deadlines. According to […]

July 28, 2021From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Cuba delays full digital TV until 2024

Cuba has delayed its digital switchover. Cuba’s deputy minister of communications, Ana Julia Marine Lopez, confirmed in an interview with a local newspaper that the nation has put off a complete switch to DTT until 2024. She blamed the delay on costs and the ongoing financial problems the nation is facing. According to Marine Lopez, […]

July 27, 2021By Chris Forrester

EC confirms Spain DTT aid broke rules

The European Commission has concluded that the aid received by terrestrial operators for the digitisation and extension of the terrestrial television network in remote areas of Spain was against EU State aid rules. Following the annulment of a 2013 Commission decision, the additional investigation has confirmed that, between 2005 and 2008, the operators of terrestrial […]

June 10, 2021By Colin Mann

SABC: “Digital is coming”

South Africa’s SABC public broadcaster is using public service announcements on its channels that its analogue broadcast are coming to an end and being replaced by digital TV signals. Scrolling messages are being shown on all of the SABC channels. The text reads: “Important notice: If you see this message, go to your nearest Post […]

May 14, 2021By Chris Forrester

Nigeria close to digital TV

Nigeria is close to migrating fully to digital TV. On April 29th residents of Lagos State, the former capital and still commercial heart of Nigeria, were given an official warning that they have just six months to switch from analogue TV reception to digital. The plan to introduce DTT was announced in 2006. Viewers can […]

May 5, 2021By Chris Forrester

South Africa DSO further delayed

South Africa is some ten years late in completing its digital switchover (DSO) from analogue TV. Now it seems the conversion will take even longer. Local reports say that the nation’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the country’s communications Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, have now agreed to a new target date of March 2023 to wrap up […]

December 10, 2020By Chris Forrester