The Spanish Administration will not finance the migration to new digital frequencies or the adaptation of antennas, but will fund a public campaign to announce the advantages of releasing the so-called digital dividend.

A €7.5 million budget has been approved to explain the “second analogue switch-off” following the digital migration that all nationwide TV channels must complete before January 1st 2014 – switching to new frequencies to release the current 790-862 Mhz band. Two public campaigns will be carried out through TV, radio, printed press, Internet, magazines and outdoor advertising: the first until April with a budget of €2.5 million and the second between May and December with a cost of €5 million.

The migration see around 1.2 million SMATV dishes adapted to receive DTT signals with a global cost of €300 million, around €20 per household.

Initially, the former government had agreed to finance the whole process with the €1,800 million collected from telcos that had paid to take hold of the frequencies to develop 4G services. But, the crisis drove the new Administration to revoke those plans for lack of financial resources with Spaniards now having to pay it out of their own pockets.

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