Spain: 3 months to re-set 8m DTT aerials
July 29, 2014
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Eight million homes in Spain (corresponding to 1.1 million buildings with SMATV) will have to readjust their DTT antennas in only 3 months (from October to December) since the approval of the DTT technical plan now scheduled for mid-September.
Spaniards will have to pay for the migration to a new frequency band with an average cost of €23 per household totaling between €160 and €184 million. Broadcasters will be obliged to make the migration in just one month of simulcasting to December 31st.
TV channels have complained as they will have to assume extra costs for the simulcasting, except for the pubcaster RTVE which will get a subsidy of €4.7 million.
From October, the 800 MHz frequencies band must be abandoned by the current broadcasters leaving them for for 4G services which paid over €1.6 billion in the public tender.
Broadcasters, antennas installers have rubbished the Government’s new DTT plan on the grounds that there will not be time enough to complete the migration process before January 1st 2015.