 LATAM | ANNOUNCEMENT |
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| DTT Landscape Continues to Change |
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As the different countries get closer to their scheduled dates for the analog blackout, the governments are taking measures. This week, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela revealed their latest progress.
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It's been a busy few days in the Latin American continent as far as digital TV goes.
In Argentina, the General Coordinator of the Advisory Council for the Argentine Digital Television System, Osvaldo Nemirovsci, announced -at the "All Technology is Politics" event- that the entire country would be covered by the free Digital Broadcast TV (TDA) within the next two years, which would allow the analog blackout to take place in 2019.
According to local newspaper Télam, the executive stated that with the complete migration of existing radio transmissions to digital broadcasting, the idea is to change people's idea that "in order to watch TV, one must pay." He also said digital TV will reach parts of Argentina currently without TV access, in addition to provide TV to the four million Argentine citizens "who are outside the payment system."
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With over 1 million set-top-boxes delivered and 50 TDA broadcasters created over the last two years, close to 70% of Argentina is currently covered, according to Nemirovsci.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan News Agency published a statement by Venezuela's Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation, Jorge Arreaza, who explained the Federal Council in Argentina delivered the keys to the first shelters to guarantee access to digital TV in 13 cities across the country.
These devices will allow 50% of the Venezuelan population to have access to DTT by the end of 2012.
In this busy scenario, news also came from Brazil. While the deadline for the analog blackout will continue to be 2016, the Ministry of Communications (Minicom) is evaluating the possibility to do it sooner in certain places. In order to make this happen, Minister Paulo Bernardo announced a schedule is being designed. In addition, the Minicom's Secretary of Electronic Communication, Genildo Lins, spoke to Brazilian website Tela Viva and stated the document should be ready in a month, tops.
He also stated the Minicom will also develop a research methodology to find out how many homes already have TVs with DTT or set-top-boxes. An estimated 30 million TVs (one third of the total) have the devices, yet the FIFA World Cup 2012 and the 2016 Olympics are expected to increase the number, which is why further analysis will be done closer to those dates. Lastly, Lins also highlighted the possibility to promote broadcasters' further digitalization.
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