Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission has decided to modify its Digital TV broadcasting transition policy first established in 2004, and is now backing a gradual analogue blackout programme, which is expected to be completed in 2016. The Commission estimates that about US$1.3 billion should be assigned to subsidise the transition to digital broadcasting.

According to its calculations, if a $40 subsidy were offered for each STB and another $20 for new aerials, “this would involve a financial effort of about US$ 1.3 billion, plus operation and social communication campaign costs”. There are an estimated 23.1 million households without Digital TV sets in the country.

The proposal has generated considerable controversy in Mexico.

Moreover, the Commission proposes a gradual “local blackout” programme, that will start in the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in 2012, and later, move forward gradually over the rest of the country, and finish in 2016. According to official information disclosed by EFE Agency, only 3.5 million Mexican households rely on a digital technology TV set, that is, 13.2 per cent of total households.

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