Spain to License Five More DTT Channels

In a post to RapidTVNews.com, Juan Fernandez Gonzalez reports Spain to license five more DTT channels. “Following the spectrum reorganisation which is moving all free-to-air (FTA) DTT networks to the 700Mhz band, Spain's Ministry of Industry has confirmed five new networks will be licensed within the first half of 2015, four high definition (HD) and one standard definition (SD),” he writes

He notes, however, “The country's FTA offer was drastically reduced last April when nine channels were closed down following a decision from the Supreme Tribunal backed up by the European Commission, but now minister José Manuel Soria is said to be ready to open a new bidding process to increase the FTA schedule.”

According to the article, Spain's spectrum plan will move TV broadcasters from 800 MHz, which they have to leave to make room for LTE technologies and find a place in the 700 MHz spectrum.

Gonzalez said, “The plan is affecting half of the aerials currently in use in Spain and the government will pay for adaptation in over a million buildings, spending nearly €300 million. The changes need to be done before the end of the year, otherwise the buildings will likely miss out on 10 percent of the DTT signal.”

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.