Advanced Television

Spain backs further UHD expansion

November 3, 2022

Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs & Digital Transformation says that experimental Ultra High-Definition (UHD) broadcasts have already been licensed in all of the country’s provincial capitals and additional important cities. Antonio Fernández-Paniagua, Deputy DG for Planning and Management of the Radioelectronic Spectrum at the ministry, is calling for more.

Fernández-Paniagua will be speaking at the upcoming Malaga UHD 4K Summit, and ahead of the event said that all Spanish television channels have to upgrade their broadcasts to HD before February 14th 2024.

Fernández-Paniagua will give the latest news regarding the situation of digital terrestrial television in Spain, in particular, its evolution to HD and the measures for a future transition to UHD.

Spain’s digital broadcasting plan is governed by Royal Decree 391/2019 and which approves the National DTT Technical Plan. This, according to Fernández-Paniagua, “includes measures to promote technological innovation in audio-visual services and in particular for the implementation of high definition and to prepare for UHD in the future.” Also, this Royal Decree establishes “the technical specifications that digital terrestrial television broadcasts in high definition and UHD must meet.”

Fernández-Paniagua added: “[The plan is created] with the aim of favouring the future implementation of advanced digital terrestrial television standards with technologies with greater spectral efficiency, which allow a more efficient use of the radio spectrum and an improvement in the quality of Image and sound”.

Another measure that is contemplated and that until now has not been used despite being already open to all operators is that “in the capacity that they have assigned in the current multiplexes, certain events can be broadcast in UHD,” said Fernández-Paniagua.

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