Media Capital CEO: “DTT is dead”
May 23, 2023
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The CEO of Portuguese media company Media Capital says that DTT in Portugal “is dead” and that the country “is having a hard time burying” the technology
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Pedro Morais Leitão admitted that the plug in DTT cannot be pulled in January 2024 and proposed that the DTT network operator licence is extended for a shorter period of time – perhaps three or four years instead of seven years as planned.
He pointed out that there are already several valid alternatives to DTT in order to distribute TV to Portuguese households such as fibre optic, cable and satellite.
According to Morais Leitão, Media Capital has already discussed the future of DTT with Portugal’s Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, who ‘is aware’ of all of the issues related to the technology.
He pointed out that only 150,000 households in Portugal receive the seven TV channels distributed via the national DTT multiplex (RTP1, SIC, TVI, AR TV, RTP3 and RTP Memória).
The CEO of Media Capital also admitted that he is open to examining RTP’s proposal of setting up a national streaming platform.
Meo (Altice Portugal) was awarded the DTT network operator licence in October 2008 for a 15-year period and the concession expires at the end of this year.
Media Capital owns national commercial channel TVI, as well several thematic TVI channels and CNN Portugal, distributed via cable and IPTV in Portugal.