Spain: CNMC calls for HD obligation lifting
October 24, 2022
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spain’s competition regulator Comisión Nacional de Los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has asked the Administration not to oblige TV operators to migrate to HD at a specified time, allowing them to make the migration freely at their discretion “in proper financial and market conditions”.
The CNMC fears that the legal obligation to migrate transmissions to HD – initially in January 2023 and now delayed to February 2024 – may primarily damage smaller operators facing high extra costs and therefore hindering free competition in the market.
Spanish TV operators will be able to continue broadcasting in SD until 2024 following a proposed Royal Decree that delays the HD obligation until February 14th that year.
Initially, the DTT Technical Plan had set the January 1st, 2023, as the deadline for migration to HD.
The “exceptional situation following the pandemic” makes it difficult for the market to be ready for HD migration now delayed until 2024, according to the Government.