Digital switchover deadline looms with missing TV stations

With the June 1 deadline for the switchover of Maltese terrestrial TV stations from analogue to digital less than a week away, only two stations are transmitting on the free-to-air new platform, raising doubts whether the deadline will be met at all.

The initial plan was to switch off all analogue terrestrial TV signals in Malta on June 1, but the alternative digital transmissions are not yet fully available.

A spokesman for the Broadcasting Authority told i-Tech that while TVM and Education 22 are already transmitting on the new digital platform, NET, One and Smash TV are not yet transmitting although they can do so. The sixth station will be decided after the amendments to the Broadcasting Act debated in Parliament last month come into force.

The digital switchover is an EU-wide exercise to stop the transmission of analogue terrestrial TV stations and in turn use the digital signals, which are more efficient in terms of frequencies and provide better picture and sound quality. According to the European Commission this has to be completed in all EU member states by the end of 2012.

Malta’s switchover started on February 1 and as part of the exercise, six Maltese TV stations of so-called ‘general interest objectives’ were to start transmitting free-to-air on the new platform by June 1. Once the switchover is completed, these stations would have been only available to Maltese TV viewers who have either a digital terrestrial set-top box or a high-definition TV set with in-built digital terrestrial capabilities connected to an appropriate antenna, similar to the ones we already see on our roofs.

Subscribers to Melita’s and Go’s TV service are not affected at all by this switchover.

Since PBS is the national public broadcaster and it is entrusted with the setting-up of the new TV platform, TVM and Education 22 have an automatic place in this six-station set-up. The remaining four private broadcasters are considered ‘second-tier’ and have to go through a selection process which is not yet completed less than a week before the deadline. PBS has contracted Go, the private digital terrestrial TV provider, to set up the necessary technical infrastructure to relay the six free-to-air stations.

Early last month this newspaper reported how Education Minister Dolores Cristina, who is also responsible for PBS, had said that the government was consulting the BA in drafting criteria which broadcasting stations had to follow to qualify for the digital platform. This was part of a wider step as government put forward a bill to “update the Broadcasting Act with regard to the licensing of the general interest objective network and of general interest broadcasting content licensees and to extend further pluralism in broadcasting”.

The parliamentary debate saw some heated exchanges between the government and opposition benches, the latter questioning the way the switchover was being handled.

According to surveys by the Digital Switchover Committee, around 9,000 households, approximately 6.4 per cent, will be affected by this switchover. Viewers who rely on an aerial (i.e. analogue broadcast) to be able to view free-to-air Maltese TV stations will be affected by the change and will need to prepare for the switchover. It is estimated that 82 per cent of these households still have a CRT (tube type) TV, and will need to prepare for the switchover by installing a digital decoder.

According to the Malta Communications Authority, whose executive chairman Philip Micallef also chairs the Digital Switchover Committee, more than 80 per cent of Maltese TV viewers have ­displayed awareness of the changeover.

However, there are still elements of uncertainty as to what the changeover is about and the final run of the campaign will seek to address these doubts.

In an effort to assist viewers who will be required to purchase a digital decoder in order to be able to continue watching free-to-air Maltese TV stations following the digital switchover, the committee has launched a scheme, whereby retailers selling digital decoders and/or digital televisions offer suitable products that can be used for watching free-to-air Maltese TV in digital.  Retailers who have opted to participate in the scheme have also been given training on the switchover, enabling them to offer better assistance to their clients. Participating outlets are recognisable by the digital switchover sticker that is on display.

A list of participating outlets and further information on the switchover itself can be found on www.dso.org.mt or by calling the 153 helpline.