Portuguese reject DTT subsidies
January 11, 2008
From Branislav Pekic Rome
Portugal's Minister for Parliamentary Issues, responsible for the Social Communications Portfolio, has rejected subsidising DTT decoders, pointing out that the Government does not have the obligation of paying for digital TVs or decoding devices.
“The incentives that the Government has already made available are for the improvement of the offer via another free-to-air general entertainment channel and the introduction of high definition programming,” Augusto Santos Silva told a Parliamentary Commission. “It is not our task to supply plasma TVs or decoding devices,” he added.
The Government approved last week the launch of a public tender for the opening of a new FTA TV channel as a way of filling out the remaining space available on the digital TV platform. It also decided to reserve part of the frequency spectrum for the launch of HD broadcasts by national broadcasters RTP, SIC and TVI