20. 01. 2012

ANTENNA CATCHES COSTS

Belgrade, January 20, 2012 (Vecernje novosti) - Testing the digital TV will start in less than a month and the signal will reach almost a half of households in Serbia. The full digitalization was initially planned for April this year, however, this deadline will most likely be pushed to 2015.

The digitalization will however present additional expense for around 1.5 million households that have individual antennae, as they would have to buy either appropriate equipment for receiveng the digital signal or new TV sets.

"Those citizens will need to get set-top boxes, in order to convert digital signal into analogue. These boxes will be available in stores during experimental broadcasting of digital signal", the state secretary for digital agenda, Jasna Matic, told the daily.

How much the set-top boxes will cost, it is not yet known. In Croatia, for example, they are 25 Euros, however, given the steady decline in costs, the price of this piece of equipment could be even less than that.

In case citizens decide to buy new TV sets, their costs would be much higher. There are only a few models of TV sets that comply with the requirements for broadcasting digital signal, however, they cost around 60.000 dinars. Even the most expensive LCD or LED TV sets will not be able to transmit digital signal without set-top boxes if they do not have DVB-T2 and MPEG-4 components.

But, for the most, the digitalization will cost nothing.

"Citizens that watch cable and satellite TV will not need to buy any of the required equipment", says Matic. "For them, the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting will be practically unnoticed, as the cable operators will take all necessary steps in the process of digitalization".

Only the most vulnerable groups of citizens will end up seeing static on their TV screens. It was first announced that the state would financially assist around 300.000 the most vulnerable households with the purchase of necessary equipment. The current crisis has, however, made it uncertain.

The value of the entire procedure of digitalization is estimated to around 70 million Euros.

The switch-off of analogue and transition to digital broadcasting of TV signal will be done in phases and is planned to be concluded within one year. The full digital signal will most likely be broadcast in 2012 the earliest, while the deadline set for the conclusion of the entire process is June 2015.