According to the latest estimates by Eres from March 2012, the number of Italian DTT households (at least one receiver in the primary residence) rose to about 22.8 million. This figure represents an increase of just under 500,000 units compared to the survey in December 2011/January 2012, taking the DTT penetration rate to 91.5 per cent. Also growing is the [...]
New Zealand starts switching off its analogue transmissions on September 30. The country’s national ‘switch off’ campaign is being handled by Going Digital, which says the area around Hawke’s Bay (East Coast of North Island) and the West Coast of South Island is first on the list. The options for viewers in those regions are to choose a Freeview terrestrial [...]
The scheme to convert India’s cable systems in its four major cities cable to digital operation by June 30th will be missed. It is now clear that few, if any of the giant ‘metros’ will meet the obligatory dates. The cable operators are blaming India’s regulator (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI) for being slow in issuing new policy frameworks. [...]
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES is now getting involved in a new battle with the Spanish administration over the allocation of the so-called digital dividend to be completed before January 2014. The Spanish subsidiary of SES, SES Astra Iberica, has announced it is to take part in the process, urging the Government not to discriminate the company as was the case, [...]
The BBC will return nearly half the £600 million (€734m) fund it was given to help the elderly and disabled convert from analogue to digital TV after the switch proved more straightforward than many people had feared. A total of £603 million was allocated out of licence fee revenues to help the over-75s, the blind and partially sighted and with [...]
Brazil’s planned digital switch-off for 2016 is set to be missed. Broadcasting giant TV Globo’s engineering director Fernando Bittencourt is quoted in Brazil as saying bluntly that the date is not likely to happen. Speaking to a local TV listings magazine, Bittencourt said there would not be problems in fulfilling digital transmissions to major cities and towns of above 50,000. [...]
In advance of the London 2012 Olympics, UK DTT platform Freeview has unveiled new consumer research which it suggests contain important reminders for the television industry, with the prospect of the Games representing a watershed for technologies such as 3DTV and Mobile TV. The research of 2,000 people indicates that what consumers want most are technologies that enhance current television [...]
BBC One, ITV1, Channel Four and Channel Five stopped transmitting on analogue overnight. An estimated 12 million television sets are affected in the London area, but most homes have already switched over. The process to turn off the transmitter began at midnight on April 18th, when BBC director general Mark Thompson turned off the switch. The switch means people will [...]
South Africa is a step closer towards migrating to a digital terrestrial television broadcasting regime, according to the Minister of Communications, Dina Pule, who has revealed that Sentech, the organisation responsible for rolling out the digital broadcasting network around the country, has now rolled out the digital network to 61 per cent of the population. State-owned enterprise Sentech is the [...]
Western Europe will not reach full digital TV penetration until 2017, despite penetration being as high as 85 per cent by end-2011, according to a new report from Digital TV Research (DTVR). In fact, only two of the 15 countries covered in the Digital TV Western Europe report had fully converted to digital by end-2011, with another two expected to [...]
