Nigeria Broadcasting Commission’s director general Emeka Mba has confirmed what many local experts have been anticipating for some time, that the country is likely to miss the mandatory June 17th digital TV switchover (DSO) date. Mba said the country doesn’t have the funds to finish the task. “Any attempt to automatically switch-over to digital broadcasting […]
Serbia has started the digital TV switchover process, with the switching off of the first analogue transmitter at the location Vrsacki Breg. The process will continue throughout the month of May and the entire country should be digital-only from June 15th. The whole project is worth €37.5 million, a figure that includes a €10 million […]
An April 1st story in South Africa swept the country like wild fire. The untrue story claimed that South Africa was to abandon its planned switchover from analogue to digital TV. Now that the bills for the conversion process are coming in, it is clear that many locals wish the April Fools hoax was in […]
Norway’s Ministry of Culture has revealed plans to switch off FM radio across the country in 2017, making it the first country to axe conventional broadcasts. The staged shut-off (which is scheduled for January 11th that year) is focused on improving channel choice and quality, according to the government. While there are just five national […]
NBC, the National Broadcasting Commission in Nigeria has appointed Inview Technology to provide the national digital TV system, comprising set-top box software and integrated broadcast services over the digital terrestrial and satellite networks in Nigeria, branded as Freeview and Freesat. Its services include interactive advertising, push VoD, electronic programme guide (EPG), a range of broadcasting […]
Adopting digital transmission in Kenya has not been free of a few headaches. There have been Court actions, consumer protests and ministerial interventions, but Kenya is now ‘dark’ as far as analogue TV is concerned. The ITU’s official conversion deadline is June this year. The nation switched off its last analogue transmitted a few days […]
Malaysia’s government is planning to distribute 2 million DTT STBs free of charge to poorer consumers. Malaysia’s Communications & Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the set top boxes would be given to peop0le who were already recipients of the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) and e-Kasih poverty-eradication programmes. “One of the conditions agreed […]
Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) says it has distributed some 2.8 million digital TVs to poorer families as part of the nation’s commitment to convert from analogue to digital TV. The government says it will subsidise a total of 13 million TVs and set-top converter boxes as part of the scheme. The IFT says that […]
Digital migration equipment worth $9.5 million has been delivered to Zambia, and will be used by contract winner Star Times Group to start the nation’s analogue to digital conversion. Godfrey Malama, Minister of Information & Broadcasting Services, said: “What we have come to view here is equipment that will be used in the first phase […]
South Africa’s communications minister, Faith Muthambi has said in an official statement that the government has decided to abandon the digital migration project. The move, described by local press as “shocking”, has completely caught the broadcasting industry off guard, and they had been working to a mid-year analogue switch off. “Seeing that none of our […]