Italy resolves TV frequency interference
October 18, 2016
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Italy is close to ending the 30-year long problem of TV frequency interferences with neighbouring countries, which led the ITU to install proceedings.
Two years and a half later, the ITU now admits that Italy has gone a long way, resolving interference with France, Switzerland and Malta, reports daily “La Repubblica”. Also, on November 9th, the Italian government should announce the shutdown of all TV repeaters that interfere with broadcasters in Croatia and Slovenia.
The government has been able to convince the local broadcasters to free up the disputed frequencies, allocating €50.8 million for this purpose. Some broadcasters agreed to the economic compensation, while others moved to other frequencies that did not produce interference to other countries, in agreement with the Communications Authority.
For their part, the Ministry of Economic Development and the regulator had at their disposal spare frequencies – some were left unsold during the 2014 bidding for new national TV networks, while others (in the 700 MHz band) were not used and available.