The scheme to convert India’s cable systems in its four major cities cable to digital operation by June 30th will be missed. It is now clear that few, if any of the giant ‘metros’ will meet the obligatory dates. The cable operators are blaming India’s regulator (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI) for being slow […]
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES is now getting involved in a new battle with the Spanish administration over the allocation of the so-called digital dividend to be completed before January 2014. The Spanish subsidiary of SES, SES Astra Iberica, has announced it is to take part in the process, urging the Government not to discriminate the […]
The BBC will return nearly half the £600 million (€734m) fund it was given to help the elderly and disabled convert from analogue to digital TV after the switch proved more straightforward than many people had feared. A total of £603 million was allocated out of licence fee revenues to help the over-75s, the blind […]
Brazil’s planned digital switch-off for 2016 is set to be missed. Broadcasting giant TV Globo’s engineering director Fernando Bittencourt is quoted in Brazil as saying bluntly that the date is not likely to happen. Speaking to a local TV listings magazine, Bittencourt said there would not be problems in fulfilling digital transmissions to major cities […]
In advance of the London 2012 Olympics, UK DTT platform Freeview has unveiled new consumer research which it suggests contain important reminders for the television industry, with the prospect of the Games representing a watershed for technologies such as 3DTV and Mobile TV. The research of 2,000 people indicates that what consumers want most are […]
BBC One, ITV1, Channel Four and Channel Five stopped transmitting on analogue overnight. An estimated 12 million television sets are affected in the London area, but most homes have already switched over. The process to turn off the transmitter began at midnight on April 18th, when BBC director general Mark Thompson turned off the switch. […]
South Africa is a step closer towards migrating to a digital terrestrial television broadcasting regime, according to the Minister of Communications, Dina Pule, who has revealed that Sentech, the organisation responsible for rolling out the digital broadcasting network around the country, has now rolled out the digital network to 61 per cent of the population. […]
Western Europe will not reach full digital TV penetration until 2017, despite penetration being as high as 85 per cent by end-2011, according to a new report from Digital TV Research (DTVR). In fact, only two of the 15 countries covered in the Digital TV Western Europe report had fully converted to digital by end-2011, […]
The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) will begin a comprehensive study next month on the requirements for ensuring a successful switchover to digital in 2015. Executive Director of the BCJ, Cordel Green said the study, which should be completed in June or July this year, will identify, among other things, cost points, and opportunities for […]
The switch from analogue to digital TV services in London next month will be celebrated with a spectacular light show at the Crystal Palace broadcast tower. Arqiva, the company which has engineered the UK’s digital switchover project (DSO), is installing more than 6 tonnes of lighting equipment on the tower in readiness for the light […]