Digital switchover

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Digital switchover is the name given to the process in which analogue broadcast television in an area is converted to digital television. It is also sometimes referred to as analogue switchoff. The motivation behind the switch is the improved quality of digital broadcasts over analogue ones and the freeing up of valuable spectrum space for other services (and bidders).

The scale of digital switchover can vary: at one extreme, a small, low-power transmitter can be converted to digital. This is what happened at Ferryside and Llansteffan in the UK, and is normally conducted as a trial, although it can be a permanent change. At the other extreme, a whole country can be converted from analogue to digital television.

In many countries, a simulcast service is operated where a broadcast is made available to viewers in both analog and digital at the same time. As digital becomes more popular it is likely that the existing analogue services will be removed. In some cases this has already happened where a broadcaster has offered incentives to viewers to encourage them to switch to digital or simply switched their service regardless of whether they want to switch. In other cases government policies have been introduced to encourage the switch-over process, especially with regard to terrestrial broadcasts.

Government intervention usually involves providing some funding for broadcasters and, in some cases, monetary relief to viewers, to enable a switch-over to happen by a given deadline.

The facility with which digital switchover can be achieved depends not only on the size of the area and number of transmitters to be converted, but also on the number of viewers who rely on the analogue signal as their primary or only means of TV reception. In Berlin, for example, most residents were using cable television, so only a small number of households needed the new equipment necessary for digital reception. On the other hand, around 60% of UK households had access to multi-channel television as of Summer 2005 [1]. This left around 10 million households who would be forced to convert to another means of receiving television by the time digital switchover reaches their area.

1 Around the world
- 1.1 Switch-off completed
- 1.2 Switch-off in progress
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Around the world

[edit] Switch-off completed

Notice on Finnish analog TV, telling people about the shutdown.

Luxembourg was the first country to complete the move to digital broadcasting on 1 September 2006.
Netherlands moved to digital broadcasting on 11 December, 2006. The switch-off was helped greatly by the fact that about 90% of the households have cable that continues to use analog distribution.
Finland ceased analogue terrestrial transmissions nationwide at 4am, September 1, 2007^[1] (switch-off was previously planned for the midnight after August 31 but a few extra hours were added for technical reasons). Cable TV viewers continued to receive analogue broadcasts until the end of February 2008.
Andorra completed its switch-off on September 25, 2007.^[2]
Sweden: The switch-off of the analogue terrestrial network progressed region–by–region. It started on the island of Gotland on 15 September 2005, and was completed on 15 October 2007, when the last analogue SVT1 transmitters in Scania and Blekinge were shut down. ^[3] Cable distributors are allowed to continue broadcasting analogue television.
Switzerland began with the switch-off on 24 July, 2006 in Ticino and continued with Engadin on 13 November, 2006. The switch-off was completed on 26 November, 2007.

[edit] Switch-off in progress

Austria began analogue switch-off on 5 March 2007, progressing from the west to the east.
Brazil began free-to-air HD digital transmissions on, after a period of test broadcasts, on December 2, 2007^[4] in São Paulo, expanding in January 2008 to Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte. Digital broadcasts will be phased into the other 23 state capitals by the end of 2009, and to the remaining cities by December 31, 2013 ^[5]. Analogue and digital simulcasts will continue until June 29, 2016, when analogue will be discontinued. The main broadcasters (Globo, Record, Band, SBT and RedeTV!) are simulcasting in analogue and digital broadcast, in standard definition and 1080i high definition.
Belgium: the situation is rather complex, as media regulations are under regional legislation. The Flemish region has announced that it will switch off analogue television on December 31, 2008, because coverage is already at 99 percent. The Wallonian Region has not yet announced a date and is expected to follow the European dates because the geographic difficulties to cover the whole region. In Wallonia there is already an 80 percent DTT coverage.
Czech Republic started the switch-off in September 2007 and should finish by September 2010. A broadcast law amendment which would change this is awaiting approval. The areas of Brno, Domažlice and Ústí nad Labem have already switched off.
Denmark began digital transmission in March 2006 and the analogue network will be closed at the end of October 2009.^[6]^[7]
France will have completed the switch-off in 2011. 80% of the population will be able to see TNT in 2008.
Germany started the switch-off in the Berlin area, beginning on 1 November 2002 and completing on 4 August 2003. It has also been completed in Bremen and Hamburg. "Simulcast" digital transmissions have started in other parts of the country, in an effort to prepare for a full switchover. The switch-off is planned to be completed by the end of 2008.
Norway: The switch-off started in late 2007 and will finish by 2009.
United Kingdom: (see also Digital switchover in the United Kingdom). The first switchoff of analogue television was on 30 March 2005, in the villages of Llansteffan and Ferryside in Wales. However, it was partially unsuccessful as residents insisted that BBC Two Wales be left broadcasting in analogue as they felt that the digital replacement, BBC 2W, which opts out from BBC Two from 20:30 to 22:00 on weekdays, shows too much Welsh programming^[8] The switch-off of all analogue terrestrial TV broadcasts resumed again on October 17, 2007 with Whitehaven in Cumbria^[9] and will now proceed region by region. The last regions will be switched off in 2012. [2]. In the UK, the free-to-air digital broadcasts are branded as Freeview.
Australia: The Australian government originally planned a switch-off in 2008. This has now been delayed to 2009 for metro areas and to 2013 for the regions. ^[10] ^[11] Until that time, free-to-air stations will be simulcast, along with digital only channels like ABC2. Since 1999, legislation has required all locally made free-to-air television transmissions to be in 16:9 widescreen format. Cable television networks began simulcasting in 2004 and analog cable services were switched off in April 2007.
Bulgaria will complete its analog switch-off in December 2012.
Canada: The main FTA broadcasters (CBC, CTV, and Global) have launched HD streams of their programming in limited markets such as Toronto and Vancouver. Originally, unlike in the other countries, Canada was allowing the market to determine when the analogue switch-off begins. As a result, currently analogue and digital broadcasts co-exist, with virtually the only way to receive Canadian digital TV in most areas being via cable or satellite TV. In Toronto it is possible to pick up DTV over the air; in Montréal, Ottawa and Quebec City a partial set of channels (most often CBC only) are offered - primarily as a vehicle for limited HDTV deployments. Much of Canada has some over-the-air access to US border stations, most of which offer ATSC DTV. Signal strength and quality varies widely. New TV's and DVD recorders often include ATSC tuners but basic converters for existing NTSC TV's typically are not readily available locally. As of May 2007 there are fewer than 20 digital television stations in Canada. On May 17, 2007, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, Canada's broadcasting authority) ruled that television stations would be forced to switch to ATSC digital broadcasting by 31 August 2011, with minor exceptions in remote areas where analogue transmissions will not cause interference. ^[12] (Wikinews)
China: The switch-off is scheduled to be in 2015.^{[citation needed]}
Greece: the switch-off will complete after the end of 2010. [3].
Hong Kong's analogue broadcasting is planned to be switched off by 2012.^[13]
Hungary is scheduled to switch off analogue broadcasting between 2010 and 2013.
Ireland's broadcaster RTE plans to make digital television available to most of the population by 2010 [4], and the switchoff is planned to be complete by 2012[5].
Italy's government aims to complete the digital switchover by 2012.
Japan: Japan is also running an intense nationwide campaign announcing the planned switchover to digital on July 24, 2011. Many television stations around the country are already broadcasting simultaneously in digital, or are planning to start digital broadcasts by 2007.
Kenya's Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) announced that the country will start digital broadcasting in 2008 following preliminary work by the government. Kenya will be among the first countries in Africa to implement digital broadcasting. ^[14].
Mexico has a 20-year plan to switch, with the target year of 2022 for the analogue shut-off.
Malaysia: Information Ministry was planning to shut down the country's analogue television system in phases beginning from 2009 and set to convert to full digital TV in 2015.
New Zealand: It was announced on the 29 November 2007 that the analogue TV broadcasts will end within the next 6 to 10 years and expect a switch off date to be announced by 2012. Digital broadcast via Freeview become available late 2007.
Norway: The switch-off of the analog transmissions started in March 2008 and will the progress region-by-region. The last analogue transmitters are scheduled to close down by the end of 2009.
Portugal's government aims to complete the digital switchover by 2012; digital broadcasts will start in 2008.
Philippines: the National Telecommunications Commission will terminate all analogue television transmission on December 31, 2015.
Russia has announced that the switch-off is to be completed in 2015^[15].
Spain: the switch-off will be completed on or before April 3, 2010^[16].
Ukraine: analogue transmissions will be terminated on 17 July 2015.[6]
Slovakia: the government aims to complete the digital switchover by 2012.
Slovenia: the switch-off will be completed in 2010.
South Africa will start switch-off in November 2008 in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and should be completed by mid 2011.
South Korea's analogue transmissions will be terminated nationwide on December 31, 2012.
United States: By no later than February 17, 2009, all full-power ^[17] U.S. television broadcasts will be exclusively digital, and analogue transmissions will be terminated, by order of the Federal Communications Commission, with legislation setting this deadline signed into law in early 2006.^[18] Furthermore, starting March 1, 2007, new television devices that receive signals over-the-air, including pocket sized portable televisions, personal computer video capture card tuners and DVD recorders, must include ATSC digital tuners.^[19] Currently, most U.S. broadcasters are beaming their signals in both analog and digital formats; a few are digital-only. Citing the bandwidth efficiency of digital TV, after the analogue switch-off the FCC will auction off channels 52-69 (the lower half of the 700 MHz band) for other communications traffic^[20], completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s. To assist consumers through the conversion, the U.S. government will take requests from households for up to two $40 coupons for digital-to-analogue converter boxes^[21] beginning January 1, 2008 via a toll free number or a website.^[22]^[23] However, these government coupons are limited to an initial sum of $890 million (22,250,000 coupons) with the option to grow to $1.34 billion (33,500,000 coupons) ^[24], which is far short of the estimated 112 million households in the United States. ^[25], Reports indicate that 1 in 2 households already has a digital TV.^[26]
- All of the major network stations in the Wilmington, North Carolina market, including low-power CBS affiliate WILM-LP (which has a digital signal), but excluding UNC-TV/PBS station WUNJ and the other low-power broadcasters in the area, will all turn off their analogue signals on September 8 and become the first market in the nation to go digital-only as part of a test by the FCC to iron out transition and reception concerns before the nationwide shutoff, and because the area's digital channel positions will remain unchanged after the transition ^[27]. WUNJ will keep their analogue signal on as they are the official area conduit of emergency information in the area^[28].
- For U.S. cable television, the FCC voted 5-0 on September 12, 2007 to require operators to make local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analogue television. This requirement lasts until 2012, when the FCC will review the case again.