Italy: €100 DVB T-2 switch grant
August 9, 2021
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
From August 23rd, Italian households can apply for a subsidy towards the purchase of TV sets compatible with the new DVB T-2/HEVC Main 10 DTT transmission standard.
According to a decree published by the Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (Ministry of Economic Development), the subsidy consists of a 20 per cent discount on the purchase price of the new TV set, up to a maximum of €100.
Based on recent estimates, there are more than 15 million TV sets to be scrapped over a period of about 15 months.
The measure also stipulates that from October 15th 2021, some national TV channels will be broadcast exclusively with DVB-T2/MPEG-4 encoding.
This decision affects nine thematic TV channels from public broadcaster RAI, such as Rai 4, Rai 5, Rai Storia, Rai Scuola, Rai Sport, Rai Gulp, and Rai YoYo.
The switch will require the reorganisation of TV frequencies by region, starting with Sardinia (from November 10th to December 18th 2021) and ending with Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Campania (from May 1st to June 30th 2022).
The decree also provides for the introduction of the DVB T-2 standard as of January 1st 2023.