Portuguese invest E17 million in HDTV
October 19, 2010
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Portuguese national TV channels have started investing in High Definition as part of preparations for the analogue switch-off (ASO) due to take place on April 26th 2012.
Commercial broadcaster SIC has announced it will invest up to E12 million in HD. Director general, Luis Marques, expects that the majority of the content and transmission infrastructure will already be in HD by year’s end, while at the time of the ASO it will be able to launch a complete offering in HD.
Rival TVI estimates investments at E3-5 million, mainly for the acquisition of transmission equipment, and expects to have the entire broadcasting line in HD by the 2010. The idea is to tailor the investment to the level of DTT penetration in the country.
At public broadcaster RTP all of the Portuguese and foreign TV series are already being commissioned in HD, with significant investments also in cameras and other broadcasting equipment, although no figures have been mentioned.
DTT broadcasting was launched in Portugal on January 12th 2009 and the four national TV channels (RTP 1, RTP 2, SIC and TVI) can currently be received by some 85 per cent of the population.