The Philippines has selected Japan’s ISDB-T transmission standard for its introduction of digital terrestrial TV. However, the transition period has slipped from 4 to 6 years.

One of the benefits of the ISDB-T system is that can carry an Emergency Warning Broadcast System (EWBS) and used frequently in Japan for earthquakes, tsunamis and related catastrophes.

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has also adopted a DTTB Migration Plan, published on 14 February during the Digital TV Summit 2017. However, included in the plan is a 2-year delay for the adoption of ISDB-T.  George Tardio, chief of the National ICT Planning Division of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, said at a conference in Manila on February 14th that the timeline has been extended from the original target date of 2018 even with the assistance of the Japanese government.

“Our target is four to six years from now, from switch-on,” Tardio told a press conference. “However, we cannot just switch off the analogue.”

The plan details the nation’s policies, regulations, and technical issues related to the country’s migration to DTT, including the strategies to prepare for the analogue switch-off.

In February 2015, ABS-CBN Corp. became the first TV network in the Philippines to commercially launch digital terrestrial TV, but it has yet to abandon the use of the analogue system in its broadcasts.

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