Digital Television Transition - Transitions Around The World - Transitions in Progress

Transitions in Progress

• Algeria: Digital broadcasting started in 2009, with analog signals planned to be switched off in 2014.
• Argentina: Digital television broadcasts started on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 in Buenos Aires. The analogue network will be terminated on Sunday 1 September 2019.
• Australia: Digital television commenced in Australia's five most populous cities on Monday 1 January 2001. The Mildura region was the first to terminate its analogue network, on Wednesday 30 June 2010. Digital switchover was originally expected to be complete by Tuesday 31 December 2013, however the last regions to switch over (Melbourne and Remote Eastern/Central Australia) are now expected to do so slightly earlier, on Tuesday 10 December 2013. Until the switch-off in the respective areas, free-to-air stations will be simulcast, along with digital-only channels like ABC2. Cable television networks began simulcasting in 2004 and analogue cable services were switched off in April 2007. The switchover is being co-ordinated by the Digital Switchover Taskforce operating under the federal Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
• Azerbaijan: Began analogue switch-off on Sunday, 17 October 2010, is expected to complete by 2015.
• Belarus: Will shut down analogue signals in 2015. Shutdown of analog broadcasting will begin in 2013.
• Bolivia: Started on Tuesday, 20 July 2010, it is expected to take a decade to be completed.
• Brazil: Began free-to-air HD digital transmissions, after a period of test broadcasts, on Sunday, 2 December 2007 in São Paulo, expanding in January 2008 to Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte. Digital broadcasts will be phased into the other 23 state capitals by the end of 2009, and to the remaining cities by Tuesday 31 December 2013. Analogue and digital simulcasts will continue until Wednesday, 29 June 2016, when, to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, analogue will be discontinued. The main broadcasters (Globo, Record, Band, SBT and RedeTV!) are simulcasting in analogue and digital, in standard definition and 1080i high definition. In 2013, the end date of the analogue broadcasts was changed to 2018.
• Bulgaria will complete its analog switch-off on Sunday 1 September 2013.
• Cambodia launched DVB-T2 on Tuesday, 9 November 2010, transition will start in 2012 and finish on Thursday, 9 April 2015
• Canada: Canada's DTV transition was completed in 28 mandatory markets on Wednesday, 31 August 2011. Some CBC analog transmitters in mandatory markets were permitted to operate for another year, and transmitters outside mandatory markets were given the option of converting to digital, or remaining in analog. The CBC decided to shut down all (more than 600) of its remaining analog transmitters on Tuesday 31 July 2012, without replacing them. Also on 31 August 2011, all full power TV transmitters had to vacate channels 52 to 69. There do however remain a very small number of community based transmitters; see Digital television in Canada
• Chile: The transition to digital started in 2012, and the switch-off is scheduled for 2017.
• Greece plans to switch off analogue broadcasting in 2013.
• Hong Kong's analogue broadcasting was planned to be switched off by 2012. However, it has been postponed until the end of 2015.
• Hungary's telecommunications authority NMHH launched the residential phase of the digital switchover during which analogue television reception with indoor antenna will be replaced by digital terrestrial broadcasting. Around 0.5 million households will switch to digital TV during two phases that will close on 31 July and 31 October in 2013.
• Iceland will cease all analog broadcasting in 2013.
• India: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting set Tuesday 31 March 2015 as the deadline for digital switchover. Digitization, on cable and terrestrial, will have four phases, in a 3-year transition starting from Wednesday 31 October 2012, and finishing on Tuesday 31 March 2015. The four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have to shift to digital addressability by Wednesday 31 October 2012. The second phase will include 35 cities with a population of more than one million, such as Patna, Chandigarh, Pune and Bangalore by Sunday 31 March 2013. All urban areas are expected to digitize by Sunday 30 November 2014 and the remaining areas by Tuesday 31 March 2015.

Further information: Television in India#Digital switchover

• Indonesia's analogue television is currently being phased out in a process that began in 2012 with the Java and Riau Islands. It will take six years before it's switched off nationwide, which is scheduled for early 2018. As far as March 2013, the DVB-T2 broadcast still in the trial stage. The government, along with television broadcaster and electronic manufacturer (especially who produce television set and Set-Top-Box) is waiting for Digital Television Kick-Off, which scheduled in mid-2013. Further information: Indonesian digital television
• Iran commenced broadcasting digital TV in 2009, using the DVB-T MPEG-4 standard, with 40% of population having access to digital TV by mid 2011. The switch over to digital TV will be completed by 2015, when all analogue signals will be terminated.
• Kenya started digital broadcasting on Wednesday, 9 December 2009. The analog network was to be switched off in June 2012. A court case has been filed challenging the timelines and this has put on hold the migration.
• Malaysia: Malaysian analog broadcasting will be phased out starting in 2015, and the transition will be finished in 2017. DVB-T launched in 2009.
• Mauritius Digital satellite broadcasting was first introduced by private television companies. In 2005, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was the first public television Broadcaster in Africa to launched the Digital Terrestrial Television channels. In 2007, the MBC also extent its digitalized service to the islands of Rodrigues and Agaléga. In 2012, the MBC provided 16 television channels and 6 radios channels on the digital platform. Although the whole territory of Mauritius is covered with the digitalized service, the analogue service has not been terminated and three of the main TV channels provided by the MBC are still provided on analogue platform. The digital switchover has not been completed as some Mauritians did not buy the DTV receiver which is needed for the digital transmission as they are also subscribed to other television companies.
• Mexico: Digital broadcasts commenced in 2000, with the first being Tijuana's XETV – an English-language affiliate of The CW serving primarily San Diego, California. Analogue shutdown was originally scheduled to occur in 2021, but on Thursday, September 2, 2010, Mexican president Felipe Calderón, in its Fourth Report of the Government, advanced the analog shutdown from 2021 to 2015. Groups of cities which are required to simulcast digitally are added in descending order of size, with full coverage of the smallest centers required by 2015. The digital switchover, which will progress region–by–region, was to begin on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 in Tijuana, but has been postponed to July 18 due to the 2013 Baja California state elections. Switchover is scheduled to be completed on December 31, 2015.
• Moldova: Will shut down analogue signals in 2015. At the moment, digital broadcasting operates in Chisinau. In 2013, the digital transmitters will be launched in other cities.
• New Zealand officially began broadcasting digital terrestrial television from April 2008 using DVB-T 64-QAM modulation with H.264 for video under the name Freeview|HD. On the 30th of September, 2012 the switch off process started with the existing analogue transmissions (PAL-B/G) for the Hawke's Bay (North Island's East Coast) and the South Island's West Coast. The rest of the South Island followed on the 28th of April, 2013 (PAL-B/G transmissions from Wellington's Mount Kaukau transmitter are still available in Blenheim and parts of Marlborough until October 2013). The lower section of the North Island, including East Cape, will follow on Sunday, the 29th of September, 2013. The final switch off will be for the rest of the North Island on Sunday, the 1st of December, 2013. Further information: Freeview (New Zealand) and Digital changeover dates in New Zealand
• Nigeria: Digital television broadcasts started via satellite set-top box receivers and some terrestrial stations, but a timetable for nationwide transition is still in the process of being created. Twenty million set-top boxes are due to be distributed nationwide by the end of 2015, and four of the six largest metro areas in the country have already gone digital.
• Peru: Digital television broadcasts started in Lima on March 2010, and analogue broadcasts are scheduled to be terminated on Tuesday, 28 July 2020.
• Philippines: The Philippine Government will terminate all analogue transmissions by Thursday, 31 December 2015. Although, according to the National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines, they will introduce first DTV to the country's main cities Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao. Some transmissions are currently in test broadcast, just like in the government-owned station National Broadcasting Network which is transmitting signal coming from its analog broadcast. The first fully operational DTV Station in the country is the Christian Era Broadcasting Service or GEM TV. Further information: Digital television in the Philippines
• Poland: Analogue broadcasts will stop on Wednesday, 31 July 2013. Further information: Digital terrestrial television in Poland
• Romania plans to switch off analogue broadcasting by Thursday, 1 January 2015.
• Russia has announced that the switch-off is to be completed in 2015. Further information: Digital television in Russia
• Serbia launched its first DTT transmissions in 2005. The first DTT-only channel was made available in 2008. Analog transmissions should have been terminated April 4, 2012, but it did not. The deadline for the transition to digital June 17, 2015. Uncertainty of the status of Kosovo brings the transition to digital broadcasting into question.
• Turkey launched trial digital transmissions in 2006 and originally planned to gradually handle the switchover, with a scheduled completion date of 2015.
• Ukraine's analogue transmissions will be terminated on Thursday, 17 June 2015. Launch of a full-fledged digital TV network capable to replace the existing analog transmissions will occur in 2011 or 2012. The DVB-T2 standard will be used for both SD and HD. Graceful shutdown of analog broadcasting will begin in 2013.
• United States: On Monday, 8 September 2008, Wilmington, North Carolina became the first city in the United States to fully switch over from analogue to digital broadcasts. All analogue signals were terminated at noon. This switchover was a test by FCC to make further improvements to the transition process before the whole nation was switched over to digital. Having moved the deadline from Tuesday, February 17, 2009 (some stations still chose to shutdown on that date), all VHF transmissions (Stations 2-13) and most full-power UHF analog transmitters were shut down on or by Friday, 12 June 2009, with the exception of "nightlight" analog stations (which broadcasted a video on how to set up a digital TV or purchase a DTV Set-Top Box) and LPTV Transmissions. "Nightlight" broadcasts were shut down on Friday, 26 June 2009. Television transmission on channels 52 to 69 was required to cease by 31 December 2011, to allow FCC to commence with the first phase of VHF/UHF TV Spectrum allotment for other services. LPTV transmitters (Primarily local-only Television Stations, as well as TV Station Translator/Repeaters in rural communities) will be forced to convert to digital or shut down by Tuesday, 1 September 2015. Further information: Digital television transition in the United States