The strategy for the transition from analogue to digital television and the national implementation of digital multimedia services was approved by the government yesterday, June 19.
“This is one of the longest awaited projects and we have been making efforts over the past year to unblock it. The adoption of this strategy gives green light to the implementation of concrete measures for the transition to digital television,” said Dan Nica, minister of communications.
In 2006, Romania committed, alongside another 102 countries from Europe, Africa and Asia, to switch from analog cable to digital terrestrial television before June 17, 2015.
In order for the transition process to be coherent, a plan of actions was set up that stipulates:
- the national implementation of four multiplexes in the UHF (ultra-high frequency) band and one multiplex in the VHF (very high frequency) band. At regional/local level, there is the possibility to allocate supplementary multiplexes, depending on technical opportunities
- the allocation of four digital national multiplexes in the UHF band and one in the VHF band
- one of the four digital national multiplexes available in the UHF band will be granted with conditions of territorial and population coverage. This multiplex will be implemented after June 17, 2015 date, having to ensure a coverage of 90 percent of the population and 80 percent of the territory until December 31, 2016.
Read about the Romanian market of TV services providers in this Business Review article.