List of digital television deployments by country?qsrc=3044

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This is a list of digital television deployments by country, which summarises the process and progress of transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.

The transition to digital television is a process that follows different paces around the world. Although digital satellite television is now commonplace, the switch to digital cable and terrestrial television has taken longer. See also Digital terrestrial television.

DTT broadcasting systems.

Africa

Morocco

National Television Company in Morocco started DVB-T based digital TV deployment on February 2007.^[1]

Digital TV is now available in the following cities and their regions:^[2] Casablanca, Benslimane, Settat, Nouaceur, Mediouna, Mohammedia, Rabat, Salé, Skhirat-Temara, Kenitra, Sidi Kacem, Khemisset, Meknes, Fes, Oujda, Tanger and Marrakech.

Namibia

While Namibia's public broadcasters still rely on analogue transmission and have not announced a transition date to digital television, the pay-TV operator MultiChoice already operates a digital television service using the DVB-T standard.

South Africa

The first digital television implementation in South Africa was a satellite-based system launched by pay-TV operator MultiChoice in 1995. On 22 February 2007 the South African government announced that the country's public TV operators would be broadcasting in digital by 1 November 2008, followed by a three-year dual-illumination period which would end on 1 November 2011.

Asia

China

In June and September 2003, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) selected 41 experimental spots for digital television trials and launched the trials later before year end 2003.^[3] Later, according to the Tenth Five Year Plan and 2010 long-range plan for radio, film and television, SARFT drafted a switch-off timetable for different levels of Chinese cities, towns and counties, in which it was commanded that by 2010 digital broadcasting be implemented overall and by 2015 analog televisions be phased out completely.^[4] It was estimated that by year end 2007, China would have over 27 million digital TV users.^[5]

In 2004, debates arose about whether the digital television technology by Tsinghua University or Shanghai Jiao Tong University should be adopted as the national standards. Finally, in late July 2007, China announced the final version of standards as a combined one and Tsinghua succeeded in this battle as 95% of its technology has been adopted.^[6]

On September 1, 2005, the first HDTV channel in China, which would be broadcast nation-wide later, began to air in Hangzhou.^[7][8]

Hong Kong

On December 31, 2007, local broadcasters started to air HD TV (1920X1080i) using Chinese DMB-T standard. Currently, there are 2 HD channels with one airing 24 hours daily. Hong Kong broadcasters are keen to use whichever standard China adopts, since doing so would allow them to transmit into the lucrative Southern China market, and would lessen the need for costly format conversion.

Israel

The Knesset approved the law regarding DTT in late 2007. The Second Authority for Television and Radio is responsible for the deployment of the system - the project name is "Idan+". The package consists of 5 channels: IBA1, IBA33, Channel 2, Channel 10 and The Knesset Channel. DVB-T broadcasts using the MPEG-4 Part 10, H.264 (AVC) video and HE AAC+ V2 audio codecs were launched in mid-2009. There were proceedings in the Knesset to add Channel 23 (Israeli Educational Television) and the local music channel 24 to the system as well. Full technical details along with a map of country transmitters can be found here (unfortunately they are only in Hebrew and were not translated to the English version of the page yet)

Japan

Japan pioneered HDTV with an analogue implementation. The old system is not compatible with the new digital standards. Japanese terrestrial broadcasting of HD via ISDB-T started in December 1, 2003 in the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya metropolitan areas of Japan. It has been reported that 31 million HD receivers have been sold in Japan as of January 2008.^[9]

The Japanese government is studying the implementation of some improvements on the standard as suggested by Brazilian researchers (SBTVD). These new features are unlikely to be adopted in Japan due to incompatibility problems, but are being considered for use in future implementations in other countries, including Brazil itself.^[10]

The move to DTV by consumers is relatively slow, partly because HD TVs are very expensive. Additionally there have been issues with the B-CAS system and Digital Rights Management in respect to the home recording of broadcasts.

December 20, 2007, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association set the rule (of copy control) for DTT broadcasting allows consumers up to 10 time of dubbing of entire TV program with video and audio into DVD recorder and etc. by naming "Dubbing 10" (ダビング10, Dabingu ten^?) actually up to 9 times of copy then 1 time or last time of move) and is pposed to start the broadcasting with "Dubbing 10" on about June 2, 4:00 a.m. 2008, but postponed^[11] that settled after long talks with Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, then confirmed to start on about July 4, 4:00 a.m. 2008. The manufacture for DVD recorder and associated DTT recorder will make unit conforming "Dubbing 10" rule and some manufacture shall release the down loading subprogram to up date recorder's internal software for existing user.

April 3, 2008, Dpa (The Association for Promotion of Digital Broadcasting-Japan) announced that total 32.71 million of DTT (ISDB-T) receiving television sets (except 1seg receiver) are installed in Japan as of end of March 2008. Dpa also announced the guide line documentation to manufacture who make the DTT receive, record and replay unit to operate with Personal computer on April 8, 2008. This add-on unit operates on USB or PCI BUS, and on sale from mid. May 2008.

January 22 noon, 2010 to 24 noon, analog wave broadcasting ceased as rehearsal to approximately 7,000 homes in Suzu and part of Noto town 48 hours as planned on September 3, 2009.^[12][13]

On July 24, 2010 noon, analog TV transmission officially stopped in Suzu and parts of Noto (approximately 8,800 homes) as the rehearsal plan one year ahead of nationwide stop scheduled on July 24, 2011. Though this analog broadcasting stop is in small area, the first complete stoppage in Asian region.^[14]

South Korea (Republic of Korea)

After a long controversy between the government and broadcasters in South Korea, ATSC was chosen over DVB-T. Since 2005, digital services have been available across the entire country. South Korea also developed its own mobile TV standard called DMB, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, based on the European technology af Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). It has a satellite, subscription based, version (S-DMB), and a free, terrestrial verion (T-DMB). T-DMB encountered a wide success, both in South Korea and abroad. For more details see Digital Multimedia Broadcasting.

Malaysia

The first digital television service in Malaysia was launched by satellite based pay-TV operator ASTRO in 1996 using the DVB-S system. A competing service, MiTV, was launched in 2005 and used a custom IPTV over DVB-T infrastructure, but shut down a few months later. The company was subsequently renamed to U Television and are now revamping their system to use standard encrypted DVB-T. Their sister company, U Mobile, offers digital TV under the service name Mobile LiveTV and transmits using DVB-H.

Starting from September 2006, the Malaysian national broadcaster RTM began its trial Digital Terrestrial Digital Television (DDTV) service for six months to 2000 selected households in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas on UHF Band 658 MHz and 674 MHz using the DVB-T standard. The trial DDTV service will offer the current 2 analogue TV channels (i.e. RTM1 and RTM2) in digital, and 2 new digital-only channels, namely RTMi (covering drama, music, news/current affairs and sports) and Music Active (all music). RTMi will be broadcasting from 7pm to midnight daily while Music Active will be from 9am to midnight. Also provided under the service are seven FM radio stations in digital audio and interactive services. As of early 2008, an additional Sports channel, Arena, was added, a new channel called Berita Aktif is scheduled for addition to the service, Music Active is made a 24 hour station, and RTMi's transmission time is extended to start from 3 pm to past midnight. Nationwide implementation is planned to begin by the year 2007 or 2008, although as of August 2008 digital transmission is still only available in the Klang Valley. Even though RTM's trial was a success, the future of the digital terrestrial television transition has became uncertain, especially after the end of Abdullah Badawi's tenure as the Prime Minister and the beginning of successor Najib Tun Razak's reign in favor of his 1Malaysia concept. All the above digital television services are in standard definition and RTM has initiated HDTV trials by 2009.^[15] While there are no announced plans by Media Prima for HDTV services, ASTRO did launch Astro B.yond for HD on end year 2009 after performing in-house tests on the feasibility of transmitting HD content^[16].

Philippines

Digital television transition in the Philippines started its planning stage in 2006 after the National Telecommunications Commission have released a memorandum on what DTV broadcast standard to be used for the country. The commission has decided to have UHF TV channels 14-51 at frequency spectrum 470-698 MHz given over to digital broadcast. They didn't chose the ATSC standard , although Philippines uses the NTSC-M standard . Instead, Philippines is testing on the two standards to be used, that is the DVB of Europe and ISDB of Japan. Many agreed to the ISDB of Japan but some also on DVB of Europe.

On June 11, 2010, National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines announced that the country will use the ISDB-T International.^[17][18]

Saudi Arabia

The first phase of digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmission in Saudi Arabia was launched on the 11 June in the main cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, the ArabNews reports. Assistant Deputy Minister of Culture and Information for Engineering Affairs, Riyadh Najm, said: "The southern city of Abha and the central city of Buraidah will also have the facility within this month." He added, "By February next year the DTT system will cover not less than 23 cities and that accounts for more than 70 percent of the population". He also said the DTT technology would allow people to receive all the four Saudi channels (Channel One, Channel Two, Arriyadiah and Al Ekhbariya) as well as the Saudi radio programmes (General Programme, Radio Qur’an, Second Programme and European Programme) with better clarity.^[19]

Singapore

On Wednesday, May 31, 2006, Singapore officially began HDTV trials. Two Singaporean broadcasters were involved, MediaCorp (broadcasting HD in DVB-T) and StarHub Cable Vision (DVB-C). Both broadcast in 1080i, but at 50 Hz, in line with the traditional PAL frequency Singapore uses.

Taiwan

Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Taiwan on July 2, 2004. Currently, there are simulcasts of analogue and digital television. Taiwan plans to replace analogue broadcasting with a digital system by 2012. To assist lower-income families with the switch to digital television, the government plans to provide NT$300 million in aid to purchase converters or for the purchase of new digital televisions.^[20]

Vietnam

First DVB-T trial has been done in 2001, and full adoption was implemented in May 2007. Analog switch-off is expected by 2015.

Thailand

Digital television trial has been done on December 5, 2000 - May 31, 2001 and official will be launch in October 2010. Analog switch-off is expected by 2015.

Australasia

Australia

New Zealand

In New Zealand, there are four forms of broadcast digital television. Sky's satellite service (available nationwide), Freeview's satellite service (available nationwide), Freeview's terrestrial service (available in main centres) and TelstraClear's cable service (available in Wellington and Christchurch)

Satellite

Sky TV launched New Zealand's first nationwide digital TV service in December 1998 and had a monopoly on digital satellite TV until the launch of Freeview's nationwide digital Satellite service in May 2007.

Terrestrial

The Freeview terrestrial service, named Freeview|HD is a high definition digital terrestrial television service using AVCHD, launched on April 14, 2008. The service currently serves areas surrounding Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier-Hastings, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

Cable

Digital cable television currently operates in Wellington and Christchurch on TelstraClear's cable TV system.

Europe

Belgium

Belgium now has three major forms of broadcast digital television. Terrestrial (DVB-T/DVB-H), Cable (DVB-C), and Satellite (DVB-S). In addition IPTV services are available.

In Belgium, the Flemish region has completed the analog switchover. At the moment, only the Flemish public broadcaster transmits programs over DVB-T. In the Walloon region and the Brussels region, the switchover hasn't been completed yet but a digital offering is already present.

Croatia

Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) started to transmit DVB-S programmes in 1997. It transmits all three state-owned TV channels (HRT 1, HRT 2, HRT 3, later replaced by HRTplus), and three radio stations (HR 1, HR 2 and HR 3).

Croatia started to test DVB-T transmission early in 2002. It transmitted 4 national TV channels (HRT 1, HRT 2, RTL Televizija, Nova TV) on a network of 9 transmitters built by Odašiljači i veze, completed in 2007 and covering about 70% of the country. With further extension of transmitter network, entire Croatia will be covered with DVB-T in 2010 with analogue switch-off process taking place region by region, starting from January 2010 in Istria and Rijeka region and completing the switch-off in October when final region (Zagreb) will be converted fully to DVB-T.

MPEG-2/SDTV is selected as a platform for free-to-air channels, initially with two MUX channels covering, where MUX A would be used by public TV Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) and MUX B used by commercial TV stations, while later MUX C and MUX D will be populated by HD and regional channels, respectively.

Finland

Analogue terrestrial television was switched off in Finland on 1 September 2007.

Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, currently there a number of providers of digital television. These include Sky Ireland which is operated by the BSkyB satellite service (available nationwide), while UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks, Smartvision,Crossan Cable provide various digital-cable services. Digital Television is also available by IPTV provider HomeVision and Magnet Networks.

• In 2008 Boxer TV were awarded the position to operate the Republic of Ireland's Digital Terrestrial Television platform which was meant to be rolled with RTÉ NL over the next 5 years.^[21] This service will offer subscription services and free-to-air channels sometime in late 2009 using MPEG4 standard.^[22]. Beginning in September 2009. On May 9, 2009 as reported OneVision are likely to operate the pay DTT service. The official announcement will be made week beginning May 11–15, 2009^[23].Due to an economic downturn in the Irish economy, Boxer TV which operates in Sweden and Denmark claimed it was unfeasible for the company to operate in Ireland. On May 11, 2009 it was reported Onevision would operate the pay DTT service.^[24]. Further setbacks were announced on July 9, 2009 when it was confirmed by Ireland's national broadcaster that RTE would not launch its DTT service until other media partners were ready to launch their services. The original launch date was September 2009^[25] and has now been deferred to launch in late 2010.

Italy

Netherlands

The Netherlands now has three major forms of broadcast digital television. Terrestrial (DVB-T/DVB-H), Cable (DVB-C), and Satellite (DVB-S). In addition IPTV services are available.

Norway

The shutdown of the analogue service in Norway started on March 4, 2008 and was finished on December 1, 2009.

Portugal

Portugal started its first digital broadcast with TVCabo Satélite (nowadays known as "ZON TV Satélite") in 1998, later, in 2001, implementation of Interactive services in 2001 brought digital TV to the wired cable networks. While the Satellite branch was (and still is) popular in areas where the Cable branch isn't available (such as remote areas and villages), iTV never became successful, and was later discontinued in 2002. Digital broadcast was still available under the name "powerbox" (after the STB used to receive the signal). In 2005, a little "analog switchover" happened, where coded analog channels (known as Premium) would cease broadcast in favour of powerbox. Every pay-TV provider offers digital television. As of 2010, all Premium channels in all pay-TV providers, are digital. DTT started in April 26, 2009 in 80% of the country, and the government plans to cover the rest of the country until 2009-2010 New Year's Eve. Analog will then be switched off 6 months after TDT covers 87% of the country via terrestrial transmitters and 13% via satellite complementary coverage.

Romania

Sweden

The shutdown of the analogue service in Sweden started on September 19, 2005 and was finished on October 29, 2007.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom now has five major forms of broadcast digital television, direct-to-home satellite services provided by British Sky Broadcasting (commonly known as Sky) and Freesat, digital cable television services provided by Virgin Media and WightCable, and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition there are 2 IPTV systems known as Tiscali owned by The Car Phone Warehouse (and currently being re branded as TalkTalk) or BT Vision, which is provided by BT. Individual access methods vary throughout the country. For most UK viewers, FreeSat, Sky or Virgin Media cable are the only sources of HDTV broadcast available in their area and the latter two come at a price over and above their standard TV packages.

Terrestrial

The initial attempt at launching a digital terrestrial broadcasting service, ONdigital (later called ITV Digital), was unsuccessful and the company went into liquidation.

ITV Digital was replaced in late 2002 by Freeview, which uses the same DVB-T technology, but with higher levels of error correction and more robust (but lower-capacity) modulation on the "Public Service" multiplexes in an attempt to counter the reception problems which dogged its predecessor. Rather than concentrating on Pay TV services, Freeview uses the available capacity to provide a free-to-air service that includes all the existing five free-to-air analogue terrestrial channels and about twenty new digital channels. All services are transmitted in SDTV mode.

March 31, 2004 saw the return of a limited pay-television offering to the digital terrestrial platform with the launch of Top Up TV. This new service is designed to appeal to those who do not want to pay the high subscription fees that Sky Television and the Cable networks demand. The service carries a restricted hours service of some of the UK's most watched channels including the Discovery Channel, G.O.L.D., Discovery Real Time, British Eurosport and Cartoon Network, sharing just three different slots. In October 2006, Top Up TV renamed itself Top Up TV Anytime, taking advantage of the increase in the popularity of Digital Video Recorders, and its limited channel space. Now over 100 programs (not channels) are broadcast overnight and added to the box's hard drive, and may be watched at any time. Channels that provide content for the overnight service include MTV, Nickelodeon and Hallmark Channel.

2005 saw the first areas of the United Kingdom losing their analogue signal in a pilot test. The residents of Ferryside and Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire, Wales who had not already upgraded to digital television were given a free set-top box to receive the Freeview television service, which includes Channel 4 (previously unavailable terrestrially from transmitters in Wales) and S4C~2, which broadcasts sessions of the National Assembly for Wales. Digital transmissions for this pilot commenced in December 2004, at which time a message was added to the analogue picture advising viewers that the analogue services would end in February 2005.

2005 also saw the announcement by the regulator Ofcom about the proposed analogue switch off plans for the UK. It is proposed that the switch off will progress on an ITV region by region basis starting in 2008 with the Border Television region, and ending in the Channel Television region in 2012. The coverage of the 3 public service broadcasting multiplexes will be the same as that enjoyed by the current analogue TV stations (98.5% of the population), while the 3 commercial multiplexes will eventually cover 90% of the population.

Freeview HD

The BBC already produces some programmes (documentaries and drama) in HD for a service on digital satellite,^[26] and foreign markets, such as the USA and Japan. The corporation intends to produce all its programmes in HD by the year 2010, and to broadcast all of its channels in HD "as soon as practical".^[27]

The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five ran terrestrial HDTV trials involving 450 homes in the London area during June-December 2006 on locally unused frequencies.^[28] As part of this trial, the BBC is already broadcasting BBC HD which is free to air but cannot be received by any set-top boxes currently commercially available. It can however be received and played back by a PC equipped with a DVB-T card that is within range (as the broadcast is not encrypted) using a software h264 decoder.

With two channels (BBC HD and ITV1 HD), Freeview HD completed a "technical launch" on 2 December 2009 from Crystal Palace and Winter Hill and operates on multiplex BBC B (aka Multiplex B or PSB3) from that date in regions that switched-over on or after that date, with the service coming to all regions by the end of 2012.^[29]

Channel 4 HD was expected to be available at launch but has been delayed.^[30] S4C HD is expected in March 2010 in Wales, where Channel 4 HD will not launch.^[31] Five HD will launch during 2010, while a fifth HD channel may be able to launch during 2013.^[32][33]

Freeview HD is the first operational TV service in the world using the DVB-T2 standard, which will require the purchase of new compatible reception equipment.^[34] Freeview HD set-top boxes and televisions will be available at the consumer launch of the service in early 2010. In order to qualify for the Freeview HD logo, receivers will need to be IPTV-capable and display Freeview branding, including the logo, on the electronic programme guide screen.^[35]

Cable

Virgin Media (formerly known as ntl:Telewest, after a merger of NTL Incorporated with Telewest Global, Inc.), became in 2006 the first "quadruple-play" media company in the United Kingdom, bringing together a service consisting of television, broadband internet, mobile phone and fixed-line telephone services. Virgin Media ranks as the UK's second largest pay TV service, having 3.6m subscribers and 55% national availability.^[36][37]

Trials of the UK's first HDTV service, the TVDrive PVR from Telewest, began on 1 December 2005 on a commercial pilot basis before a full launch in March 2006.^[38][39]. Due to the merger between NTL and Telewest, the TVDrive was made available to NTL cable customers in the Teesside and Glasgow areas on 16 November 2006. In January 2007, NTL:Telewest began renting the STB nationwide and since the acquisition of the Virgin Media name, it is now officially available in all areas with the new V+ branding. Virgin Media is also the only cable provider to supply video on demand services.

As of October 2009, Virgin Media are broadcasting severn HD channels with plans for further new HD channels during 2010.^[40]

WightCable also provide cable television to the residents of the Isle of Wight. Smallworld Cable also provides cable television to the West of Scotland and North-West of England

Satellite

On November 1, 2005 ITV turned off encryption on all of its satellite based signals, following the lead from the BBC. These transmissions are on a limited spotbeam which is aimed primarily towards the United Kingdom, via the Astra 2D satellite located at 28.2 degrees east. This theoretically limits reception to the UK, Republic of Ireland and Iceland, allowing ITV to fulfill licensing agreements with content producers. However, many people report successful reception of these signals from across Europe by using larger dishes.

Sky+ HD is offered by BSkyB in both the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland as an add-on to their existing Sky Digital subscription service. The BBC is broadcasting BBC HD as a free-to-air channel from the Astra 2D satellite, and the channel can be viewed for free with suitable satellite reception equipment. There are additional equipment and subscription charges for HD from Sky TV but they are broadcasting over 30 channels in the HD format. Sky also offers a free-to-air version of its regular Sky Digital service known as Freesat from Sky. Freesat from Sky provides a non-subscription card for public service broadcast channels Channel 4 and Five, however Film4, Film4+1 are free-to-air.

On 12 July 2006, the BBC and ITV announced a free-to-air satellite service as a competitor to Freesat from Sky, to be called Freesat.^[41] The service was officially launched on 6 May 2008^[42] and covers all BBC and ITV digital TV channels, plus interactive services, radio channels, and other channels. It is being touted as the satellite equivalent to Freeview (UK), especially for areas unable to receive the Freeview DTT service.^[43]

North America

Canada

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has adopted the same digital television standard for stations in Canada as the United States. The CRTC initially decided not to enforce a single date for transitioning to digital broadcasts, opting to let the economy decide when the switchover will occur. However, a later decision settled on the date of August 31, 2011.^[44]

CITY-TV was the first Canadian station to provide digital terrestrial service. As of 2007, other digital stations on-air include the CBC and Radio-Canada stations in Toronto and Montreal, as well as CTV's CFTO and CIVT, and CKXT (SUN TV). This list is not necessarily exhaustive and other station launches are completed or pending, although most are in the largest markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Also, this does not include digital or high definition versions of specialty channels.

On November 22, 2003, CBC had their first broadcast in HD, in the form of the Heritage Classic outdoor NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. Bell TV, a Canadian satellite company, Rogers Cable and Vidéotron provide somewhat more than 21 HDTV channels to their subscribers including TSN HD, Rogers Sportsnet HD, Discovery HD (Canadian Edition), The Movie Network HD, and several U.S. stations plus some PBS feeds and a couple of pay-TV movie channels. CTV Toronto broadcast in HD along with its western counterpart, BC CTV. They were also the first to broadcast a terrestrial HD digital ATSC signal in Canada. Global joined the crowd in late 2004. Other networks are continuing to announce availability of HD signals. CHUM Limited's Citytv in Toronto was the first HDTV broadcaster in Canada; however, now most cable and satellite subscribers across Canada can access multiple channels in HDTV with major American and Canadian affiliate stations broadcasting HDTV signals with no CANCON overlay for advertising. Typically these channels are NBC HD, ABC HD, CBS HD, Fox HD, TSN HD, Sportsnet HD, CBC HD, etc., as of summer 2006. CBC HD officially launched their HDTV programming on March 5, 2005. CBC HD broadcasts the first game of their Hockey Night in Canada Saturday double header in HDTV. The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs games have seen an increased amount of HDTV coverage as well. Shaw Direct, another Canadian satellite provider, currently offers its subscribers 14 HDTV channels at no extra cost. Shaw Cable has found limited success with HDTV implementation since the cost of a HD PVR is near the $750 CAD mark. Monthly rentals for this equipment are not available; however, they do offer financing on 36-month terms through a third-party credit company.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica chose Japanese - Brazilian standard ISDB-T as 7th country on 25 May 2010.^[45]

Mexico

Mexican television company Televisa made experimental HDTV broadcasts in the early-1990s, in collaboration with Japan's NHK. Some events are now broadcast in high definition. During the first half of 2005, at least one cable provider in Mexico City, Cablevision, has begun to offer 5 HDTV channels to subscribers purchasing a digital video recorder (DVR).

By the third quarter of 2005, HDTV transmissions from TV Azteca were available in Mexico's largest markets: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Phase Two of TV Azteca's national roll-out brought HDTV services to six cities along the Mexico-U.S. border (Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juárez, Mexicali, and Tijuana) by the first half of 2006. This roll-out took advantage of HDTV receivers already in place thanks to an earlier HDTV roll-out by stations on the American side of the border. TV Azteca has also broadcast the Mexican football tournament in HDTV.

XETV in Tijuana, Baja California, is on the air in HDTV using 720p format. This affiliate of the American CW Network is on UHF channel 23 broadcasting from Mt. San Antonio in Tijuana, with 403,000 watts, directed primarily northward at San Diego. In January 2006, Televisa's XEFB-TV and Multimedios' XHAW-TV in Monterrey began HDTV transmissions on UHF channels 48 and 50, respectively. In February 2006, Televisa's XHUAA in Tijuana began its HDTV transmissions on channel 20. Unfortunately they have no HDTV programs. Channel 20 broadcasts an upconverted version of the programs of XHUAA's analog signal on channel 57.

Official plan for Mexican DTT

Currently there are 36 digital channels in Mexico. They are:

• 11 in Mexico DF
• 6 in Monterrey
• 5 in Guadalajara
• 5 in Tijuana
• 3 in Juarez
• 3 in Mexicali
• 2 in Reynosa
• 2 in Matamoros
• 3 in Nuevo Laredo

The transition calls for 6 triannual periods and started on July 5, 2004 just three days after they adopted ATSC. The analog signal will be cut off no later than January 1, 2022.^[46] The analog signal can be turned off in a region once COFETEL determines that there is a high enough presence of digital TVs, defined as:

• Digital Presence = At least 20% of what is reached by the analog signal
• Digital Replication = At least 90% of what is reached by analog signal

Phase I

Phase I was from July 5, 2004 to December 31, 2006. Digital presence of at least 2 commercial signals in the following cities:

• • México, D.F.
  • Monterrey, N.L.
  • Guadalajara, Jal.
  • Tijuana, B.C.
  • Mexicali, B.C.
  • Cd. Juárez, Chih.
  • Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
  • Matamoros, Tamaulipas
  • Reynosa, Tamaulipas

Phase II

Phase II is in progress, and began on January 1, 2007, completing on December 31, 2009.

• Digital replication of signal of Phase I
• Digital presence of at least 2 commercial signals in cities with 1.5 million people or more.

Phase III

January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2012

• Digital replication of signal of Phase II
• Digital presence of non-commercial signals in cities with 1.5 million people or more.
• Digital presence of at least 2 commercial signals in cities with 1 million people or more.
• All digital Channels must broadcast at least 20% HDTV. At least one hour during primetime, and at least one hour during the morning.

Phase IV

January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2015

• Digital replication of signal of Phase III
• Digital presence of non commercial signals in cities with 1 million people or more.
• Digital presence of at least 2 commercial signals in cities with half a million people or more.

Phase V

January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2018

• Digital replication of signal of Phase IV
• Digital presence of non commercial signals in cities with half a million people or more.
• Digital presence of at least 2 commercial signals in cities with 150 thousand people or more.

Phase VI

January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2021

• Digital replication of all analog signals

While Televisa Has HDTV channels in places other than Mexico City, like Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana, Monterrey and others, there are certain shows they only show in HD in Mexico City. In places other than Mexico City, they show some sort of weird Schedule-Vision. For Example in the HD version of XHJCI-TV in Juarez they only turn on the HD signal from Mexico city from 6 pm - 9 pm Monday to Friday. In Juarez they don't show Alma De Hierro or the News in HD. They also don't show any of the Football games in HDTV.

Greenland

Subscription based digital terrestrial television is currently available in the capital Nuuk (Godthab) through Nuuk TV's Nuuk Digital.^[47] In addition to the Greenlandic and Danish public service broadcasters Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa, Nuuk TV, and Danmarks Radio, the service offers additional channels from Canal+ and American and European cable networks (typically subtitled in Danish). As Nuuk Digital is a premium service, and DVB-T broadcasts are not presently available in other settlements, the service continues to run alongside analogue terrestrial broadcasts from KNR, DR, and Nuuk TV. The government of Greenland has no plans or timetable for an analogue switch-off at the present time.^{[citation needed]}

El Salvador

On April 22, 2009 El Salvador has adopted ATSC standards for digital terrestrial broadcasts and digital cable services.^[48] An analogue shutdown is currently tentatively scheduled for December 31, 2018.^[49]

Honduras

CampusTv, The first Digital High Definition TV Station, CampusTv * [3]. was founded by the University of San Pedro Sula * La U Privada.. 59.1 and 59,2 HD. Covers the entire nation. Its Satellite signal covers America and Europe. The Parameters are: La señal satelital de CampusTv tiene los siguientes parámetros: Satélite: NSS 806 (40.5°W) , Frecuencia de bajada: 3633.75 MHz Polarización: Circular R/L Symbol Rate:2.59 Mbit/s FEC:3/4 CampusTv HD / Televisión Digital en Alta Definición canal 59.1 y 59.2 Torre Universitaria Jorge Emilio Jaar, Campus Universitario USPS, Avenida Circunvalación, San Pedro Sula, Honduras. C.A. www.campushd.tv

Panama

Panama approved the adoption of the European standard DVB-T to be used for the first time on the 2010 World Cup.

United States

The United States has adopted ATSC standards for digital terrestrial broadcasts and digital cable services. These standards include standard definition, enhanced definition, and high definition formats. On May 8, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin announced that the agency will test run the transition to digital television in Wilmington, North Carolina beginning September 8, 2008. This is in order to work out any kinks which may not be foreseen before most of the country's broadcasters stop transmitting traditional analog signals and upgrade to digital-only programming. Full-power terrestrial broadcasts using the analogue NTSC standard will be required by law to cease by June 12, 2009.^[50] Some television sets will continue to use analog NTSC tuners if connected to an analog cable system, or a converter box (which may receive digital signals over the air, from a cable system, or from a satellite system). Low-power broadcasts, as well as some Canadian or Mexican border signals, may remain available in analog form to some US viewers after the shutdown of US-based full-power NTSC broadcasts.

South America

Argentina

After a bumpy ride of back and forths, Argentina officially selected the Japanese-Brazilian standard ISDB-T International on August 28, 2009, and agreed with Japan to cooperate for resource exchange and technical transfer, as applied on Peru.^[51][52]

While HDTV-ready TV sales are increasing in Argentina, no single HD feed is currently available by terrestrial television as of mid 2009, as the standard selection process wasn't officialized until August 28, 2009. As of this date only a few are available by cable, which are unregulated and use ATSC set top boxes installed at the customers' premises. Subscription TV provider Antina [4] uses the DVB standard to deliver an alternative service to cable TV, using standard definition analog outputs.

It is expected that the public TV stations begin transition to ISDB-T that the standard for Over-the-air transmissions has been set, and On air service started from 28 April 2010.^[53]

Bolivia

Bolivia chose Japanese - Brazilian standard ISDB-T International on 5 July 2010.^[54][55]

Brazil

The SBTVD standard (based on the Japanese standard ISDB-T) was adopted 29 June 2006 and launched in 2 November 2007. In 2007, only the greater São Paulo metropolitan area could receive the signal. Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro began to receive free-to-air digital signal in April 7 and April 8, 2008, respectively^[56]. In August 4, 2008 and October 22, 2008, Goiânia and Curitiba began to receive DTV signal, respectively. Digital broadcast started at Salvador in December 2 and Campinas in December 3, 2008. The government estimated 7 years for complete signal expansion over all of the territory. Analog television is set to be shut down in 2016, but it can be delayed if needed.

The interactive platform called Ginga ^[57] consists entirely of free software and received high publicity for being considered the main appeal for the change. The government promised WiMAX as return channel for the system, set to be implemented in the following years.^[58]

All 5 major TV networks (Band, Rede Globo, Rede Record, RedeTV! and SBT) broadcast in HDTV signal (1080i), SDTV 480i and 1seg as well.

Chile

TVN has made HDTV tests in 1999, Canal 13 is now broadcasting, in Santiago only, a test transmission in the three HDTV formats (ATSC, DVB and ISDB). In Valparaíso, UCV is making ATSC broadcast tests for the Valparaiso area, and Canal 13 also has made tests in DVB format in April 2007 for the Valparaiso area. After rescheduling the date for a final decision on DTV formats several times,^[59] The government has stopped offering dates for such an announcement.^[60] In September 14, 2009, president Michelle Bachelet announced that the government had finally decided, after prolonged delays, on a digital television standard. Chile will be adopting the ISDB-T Japanese standard (with the custom modifications made by Brazil). Simulcasting is expected to begin in 2010, with a projected analog switch-off in 2017.^[61]

Colombia

On August 28, 2008 Colombia has adopted the European digital terrestrial television standard, DVB-T.^[62]

Señal Colombia —Colombia's state-owned channel— has made digital terrestrial television broadcast tests since 2006, in northwest Bogotá and downtown Cartagena, transmitting into the three DTV formats ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T. Also the Chinese standard DMB-T/H, was considered, but could not be tested.

HDTV-ready television sets (DVB-T and mainly ATSC) were available in Colombia since 2003, but cable and satellite television companies haven't transmit HD content to its subcribers.

Currently, preparations are underway in Colombia, to launch DVB-T services in (tentatively) May 2009, when the first DTV transmitter goes live (maybe at Manjui Hill, in Facatativá). The launch will initially allow 11 million households in the regions of Bogotá D.C., Boyaca, Cundinamarca, north of Huila, Tolima, west of Meta, and probably Caldas and Risaralda to view DTV services. Initially, viewers will be able to access only the services provided by the public service broadcasters Señal Colombia and Canal Institucional, but the nation's private channels (Caracol TV and RCN TV) are also expected to join in the next few months.^[63]

The Spanish Impulsa TDT, the association for the implementation of digital-terrestrial television and the Colombian government have signed an official agreement under which Spain will help the country implement DVB-T.^[64]

Ecuador

Ecuador chose Japanese - Brazilian standard ISDB-T as 6th country on 26 March 2010.^[65][66]

Paraguay

Paraguay chose Japanese - Brazilian standard ISDB-T on 1 June 2010.^[67][68]

Peru

Chosen the Brazilian modified version of the Japanese standard ISDB-T on 23 April 2009. Agreed with Japan to cooperate for resource exchange and technical transfer on 21 August 2009, and On air service started from 30 March 2010.^[69][70][71] 1seg is one of attractive system.

Uruguay

On August 27, 2007, the Uruguayan government issued a decree stating that the DVB-T and DVB-H standards will be adopted.^[72] While HDTV-ready TV sets are available at the country, a few factors seem to constrain the development of the new technology in the near term:

• Prices for LCD, Plasma and DLP-based TV sets can be two times more expensive in Uruguay than in the region, or four times more expensive than in the US, while wages are also lower than in the region. Some DLP-based displays can cost up to US$7000 in Uruguay as of 2006. There have been few examples, if any, of CRT-based HDTV sets.
• The cable industry has few incentives to provide other services beyond basic TV services: Internet-by-cable and cable telephony have been either strictly prohibited by law (Antel, the local telco company owned by the government and with a strong union, enjoys a monopoly on basic telephony services and land lines) or thwarted by high taxes on equipment that make a business case for newer technologies unfeasible. Digital Cable has started rolling out, with an initial 100% increase of monthly cost for the SD digital service. High prices for HDTV sets do not help. Some of the cable companies for the largest markets are also owned by the largest local TV content providers, which as of 2006 have not started broadcasting any HDTV content since there has not been an approval of which standard is to be used by the government.
• DirecTV might be in a better position to provide HDTV content, given that they have experience and content from the US and given that they serve the whole continent. But DirecTV's policy in Uruguay has been that of providing "leftover" equipment from Argentina to its customers in Uruguay (i.e., first-generation RCA receivers), which as of now do not support HDTV content or Dolby AC-3 Sound.
• Uruguay hoped for neighboring countries reaching an agreement on an HDTV standard, but so far that does not seem to be the case. Brazil has adopted the ISDB system, while Argentina and Uruguay have historically used TV systems based on a European standard (PAL-N 625/50 Hz). Argentina seemed to be settling on the ATSC standard before 2009, and Uruguayan URSEC authorities have provided no information on which road they will go. On August 27, 2007, URSEC settled on DVB-T and DVB-H. The TV sets being sold in Uruguay seem to be closer to ATSC HDTV-based standards (60 Hz systems, with ATSC tuners in some cases). Most of the DVD-based content in the country is NTSC/60 Hz-based, while the TV standard in use is PAL/50 Hz-based. Most of the analog TV sets sold are PAL-N, PAL-M and NTSC capable, while most DVD players are multiregion. Authorities are not asking retailers to identify which standard the HDTV sets sold adhere to.

Venezuela

On October 6, 2009, Venezuela has officially adopted ISDB-T with Brazilian modifications. Transition from analog to digital is expected to take place in the next 10 years.^[73][74]

See also

• Digital television transition

References

• [5]

External links

• The Launching Country, DiBEG-Japan
• Worldwide overview of the digital terrestrial systems ATSC, DMB-T/H, DVB-T and ISDB-T
• Digital TV News – By Country/Region

HDTV

• List of Network HDTV affiliates (as of May 1, 1999; way behind the times)
• MilwaukeeHDTV

Brazil

• SBTVD Development in Brazil

Canada

• CRTC Public Notice

Colombia

• CNTV Official government site about digital terrestrial television in Colombia

Israel

• GoDigital Israel - Digital Terrestrial News from Israel

Mexico

• Mexican FCC Plan for DTT
• Mexican HDTV

Uruguay

• Regulatory agency of radio spectrum in Uruguay
• DVB.org announcement on Uruguay's decision

Japan

• DiBEG - Digital Broadcasting Experts Group

Regulators and organisations

• Government
• ARIB
• JCTEA
• NHK STRL

Domestic promotion

• The Association for Promotion of Digital Broadcasting (Dpa)

Industrial

• JEITA

Satellite

• B-SAT
• SKY perfect JSAT

Conditional acesss

• B-CAS(Japanese)

Broadcasters and DTV Channel operators

• NHK
• NTV
• TBS
• Fuji TV
• TV Asahi
• TV Tokyo
• MX TV
• SKY PerfecTV!
• WOWOW
• STAR CHANNEL