Bolivia Plans Evaluation of ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T DTV Systems

By Doug Lung
published

Bolivia’s government announced that it plans to hold a technology fair in Feb. 2008, and will give proponents of the three main terrestrial DTV standards an opportunity to demonstrate their technologies there. ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T will be considered.

A BNAmericas.com article by Juan Pedro Tomás said that according to Erick Butrón, public affairs chief at Bolivian telecommunications regulator Sittel, while there is no deadline to reach a decision on a standard, the government wants to reach a decision as soon as possible.

“We are behind other countries in Latin America on this issue,” Butrón said. “However, we want to take the correct steps in order to make the best decision for the country,”

A committee will be set up to evaluate the three options. Brazil has already decided to develop its own version of the Japanese ISDB standard, and Uruguay has selected the DVB-T standard for terrestrial DTV.

Doug Lung
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.