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/ 07.26.2010 2:00PM
DTV Transitions Yet to Go
MULTIPLE CITIES: The
digital TV transition continues to play out across the globe more than a year
after the United States hit its deadline. The story elsewhere is much the same
as it was here leading up to June 12, 2009. Millions are not yet prepared and
various government officials are trying to get the word out.
Nearly 1 million households in Canada are reported to be unprepared for that nation’s switch, scheduled for next August. Canada
has roughly 13.7 million TV households, 11 million of which subscribe to pay
TV, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers estimate. The 1 million compares to 3.3 million U.S. households that were unprepared just
one month out from last year’s transition deadline, though the United States
has more than 111 million TV households.
The Aug. 31, 2011, Canadian transition applies to “areas with a population over
300,000,” according to the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission. Roughly 860,000 households in urban
areas are unprepared. Around 31,500 unprepared households are estimated to be
in areas not required but expected to switch on Aug. 31, 2011, as well. The
transition is expected to cost Canadian consumers around $73.5 million, Digital
Home reports.
Japan’s transition deadline is July 24, 2011, and around 20 percent of TV
households there--11 million--are unprepared, according to
Asahi
Shimbum (requires translation). Japan has around 48 million TV
households. DTV broadcasting commenced there in late 2003 in Tokyo, Osaka and
Nagoya.
More than half of households in Hong Kong are said to be receiving terrestrial
digital TV transmissions, according to the
government.
Around 53 percent, or 1.23 million households have gone digital, up 300,00 from
a year ago. DTV was launched there at the end of 2007. Hong Kong will shut down
analog broadcasting in 2012. Eight more “fill-in” stations are under
construction to complete coverage for the region.
More than half of the 52 countries in Africa are not expected to meet the 2015
DTV transition deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union,
AllAfrica.com
reports. Twenty-nine countries don’t appear to have started the process. Five
have launched digital broadcasting, including South Africa and Kenya. Ten are
said to be in the pilot stage; and eight have complied policies. Officials are
concerned that neither broadcasters nor citizens will have adequate time to
obtain the necessary equipment. Only South Africa has created a DTV converter
subsidy program.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
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“Underlying this co-operation is the shared conviction that... only a flexible, cross-border approach will make it happen quickly.” ~ Ingrid Deltenre