Digital television transition

The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover or analog switch-off, is the process in which analog television broadcasting is converted to and replaced by digital television. This primarily involves the conversion of analog terrestrial television to digital terrestrial. However, it also involves analog cable conversion to digital cable, as well as analog to digital satellite.

In many countries, a simulcast service is operated where a broadcast is made available to viewers in both analog and digital at the same time. As digital becomes more popular, it is likely that the existing analog services will be removed. In some cases this has already happened, where a broadcaster has offered incentives to viewers to encourage them to switch to digital. In other cases government policies have been introduced to encourage or force the switchover process, especially with regard to terrestrial broadcasts. Government intervention usually involves providing some funding for broadcasters and, in some cases monetary relief to viewers, to enable a switchover to happen by a given deadline.

The switchover for individual countries varies; in some countries it is being implemented in stages as in India and the United Kingdom, where each region has a separate date to switch off. In others, the whole country switches on one date, such as the Netherlands, which switched off all analog services on 11 December 2006. Some countries have different switch off dates for each channel, such as China where CCTV channels 1-5 will be switched off first.

Purpose of the transition

Almost all analog formats in current use were standardised between the 1940s and the 1950s and have had to be adapted to the technological innovations since then. Initially offering only black and white images with monophonic sound, the formats have had to be modified to broadcast in colour and with stereo sound, second audio program (SAP), captioning, and other information all while being backwards compatible with televisions unable to use the features. Additionally, engineers have had to implement these protocols within the limits of a set bandwidth and the tolerances of an inefficient analog format.

However, during this time, the application and distribution of digital communications evolved. Digital television transmission more efficiently uses the available bandwidth and can easily integrate other digital services. While analog video and audio broadcasts can not efficiently include other digital services, they have the advantage of greater area coverage because a degraded signal can still be usable to a fringe user while a digital one will just drop off.

• For the end-user, digital television has the potential for resolutions and sound fidelity far higher than those of analog broadcasts. It is also possible to offer far more channels by way of digital multiplexing, and subchannels, distinct simulcast programming, from the same broadcaster. However, most free-to-air broadcasters do not have the finances to operate multiple channels with the same quality of content on all channels; also the more channels provided has the impact of decreasing the bandwidth available to the existing channel(s) meaning overall lower picture quality due to compression artifacts and non-proportional anamorphic widescreen digital scaling.
• For government and industry, digital television reallocates the radio spectrum so that it can be auctioned off. In the subsequent auctions, telecommunications industries can introduce new services and products in mobile telephony, wi-fi Internet, and other nationwide telecommunications projects.
• Impact on public-access television: decreased allocations available, expensive digital equipment cost replacement and lower broadcast area coverage due to digital drop-off.

Timeline for the digital switchover

• 2006: Netherlands
• 2007: Andorra, Finland, Sweden
• 2008: Germany, Switzerland
• 2009: Denmark, Isle of Man, Norway, United States (full power stations)
• 2010: Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Guernsey, Jersey, Latvia, Luxembourg, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain
• 2011: Austria, Canada (major markets only), Cyprus, France, Israel, Malta, Monaco, Turkey
• 2012: Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom
• 2013: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kenya, Republic of Macedonia, Mauritius, Moldova, Namibia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Zimbabwe
• 2014: India, Serbia, Iceland
• 2015: Belarus, Brunei, Greece, Hong Kong, Iran, Romania, Rwanda, Ukraine, United States (low power stations), Uruguay, Africa, and Mexico
• 2016: Russia, Mongolia, Laos
• 2017: Chile, Malaysia, Sri Lanka^[1]
• 2018: Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Singapore
• 2019: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador
• 2020: Panama, Philippines,^[2] Peru, Venezuela, Vietnam, Paraguay, Thailand
• 2021: Indonesia, Cuba
• No intention of switching: Eritrea, Ethiopia, North Korea

Other information

The Geneva 2006 Agreement sets 17 June 2015 as the date after which countries may use those frequencies currently assigned for analog television transmission for digital services, without being required to protect the analog services of neighbouring countries against interference. This date is generally viewed as an internationally mandated analog switch-off date, at least along national borders.^[3] The European Commission has recommended that digital switchover should be completed by 1 January 2012 - Commission Recommendation 2009/848/EC, of 28.10.2009.^[4]

Digital switchover at a glance

Country	DTT transmission commenced	Switch-over commenced	Switch-over completed
Andorra			02007-09-25-000025 September 2007
Australia[5]	02001-01-01-00001 January 2001	02010-06-30-000030 June 2010	02013-12-10-000010 December 2013
Belgium		02008-11-03-00003 November 2008	02010-03-01-00001 March 2010
Brazil[6]	02007-12-02-00002 December 2007	02015-11-29-000029 November 2015 [7]	02018-11-25-000025 November 2018
Bulgaria	02009-01-01-00001 January 2009	02013-03-01-00001 March 2013	02013-09-30-000030 September 2013
Canada	02003-03-01-00001 March 2003	02011-08-31-000031 August 2011
Croatia<ref name=""vlada.hr">"Dobrodošli u digitalno doba! / Vijesti / Digitalna televizija / Aktualne teme / Aktualne teme i projekti / Vlada Republike Hrvatske - službeni web portal" (in Croatian). Vlada.hr. Retrieved 2012-08-01. </ref>	02002-06-13-000013 June 2002	02010-01-26-000026 January 2010	02010-10-05-00005 October 2010
Czech Republic<ref name=""mediar.cz">"Analogové vysílání televize skončí v Česku 12. 2. 2012. Konečně vypíná i Nova" (in Czech). mediar.cz. Retrieved 2012-09-13. </ref>	02005-10-01-0000October 2005	02007-09-01-0000September 2007	02012-02-12-000012 February 2012
Denmark	02003-03-01-00001 March 2003		02009-11-01-00001 November 2009
El Salvador	02009-04-22-000022 April 2009	02018-03-01-00001 March 2018	02019-01-01-00001 January 2019
Estonia			02010-07-01-00001 July 2010
Finland	02001-08-21-000021 August 2001		02007-09-01-00001 September 2007
France[8]	02005-03-31-000031 March 2005	02010-02-02-00002 February 2010	02011-11-29-000029 November 2011
Germany		02002-11-01-00001 November 2002	02008-11-25-000025 November 2008
Greece	02006-03-20-000020 March 2006	02009-09-24-000024 September 2009	02015-02-06-00006 February 2015
Guernsey			02010-11-17-000017 November 2010
Hungary[9][10]	02001-10-01-0000October 2001	02013-07-31-000031 July 2013	02013-10-31-000031 October 2013
India[11][12]	02003-01-26-000026 January 2003	02012-10-31-000031 October 2012	02015-03-31-000031 March 2015
Ireland[13]	02010-10-29-000029 October 2010		02012-10-24-000024 October 2012
Isle of Man			02009-07-24-000024 July 2009
Italy	02003-01-01-00002003	02008-10-15-000015 October 2008	02012-07-04-00004 July 2012
Japan[14]	02003-12-01-00001 December 2003	02011-07-24-000024 July 2011	02012-03-31-000031 March 2012
Jersey			02010-11-17-000017 November 2010
Latvia			02010-06-01-00001 June 2010
Lithuania	02001-03-01-0000March 2001		02012-10-29-000029 October 2012
Macedonia	02004-05-04-00004 May 2004	02010-01-01-00001 January 2010	02013-06-01-00001 June 2013
Mexico[15]	02004-07-02-0000July 2, 2004	02013-07-18-000018 July 2013	02015-12-31-000031 December 2015
Netherlands			02006-12-11-000011 December 2006
New Zealand[16]	02007-05-02-00002 May 2007	02012-09-30-000030 September 2012	02013-12-01-00001 December 2013
Norway	02007-09-01-00001 September 2007	02008-03-01-00001 March 2008	02009-12-01-00001 December 2009
Peru	02010-03-30-000030 March 2010	02020-07-28-000028 July 2020	02023-01-03-00003 January 2023
Poland	02010-09-30-000030 September 2010	02012-11-07-00007 November 2012	02013-07-23-000023 July 2013
Portugal	02009-04-29-000029 April 2009	02012-01-12-000012 January 2012	02012-04-26-000026 April 2012
Philippines	02008-10-01-0000October 2008		02020-01-01-00002020[2]
Qatar	02001-01-01-00001 January 2001		02012-02-13-000013 February 2012
Saudi Arabia	02001-01-01-00001 January 2001		02012-02-13-000013 February 2012
Slovakia[17][18][19]	02009-12-22-000022 December 2009	02010-10-28-000028 October 2010	02012-12-31-000031 December 2012
Slovenia			02011-06-30-000030 June 2011
South Korea	02001-10-26-000026 October 2001	02010-09-01-00001 September 2010	02012-12-31-000031 December 2012
Spain[20][21]	01999-11-15-000015 November 1999	02008-04-05-00005 April 2008	02010-04-03-00003 April 2010
Sweden	01999-01-01-00001999	02005-09-19-000019 September 2005	02007-10-29-000029 October 2007
Switzerland		02006-06-01-00001 June 2006	02008-01-01-00001 January 2008
Thailand	02014-04-01-00001 April 2014	02015-01-01-00002015	02020-01-01-00002020
Taiwan	02004-01-01-00001 January 2004	02012-05-07-00007 May 2012	02012-06-30-000030 June 2012
Tunisia[22]	02012-01-01-00002012	02015-03-06-00006 March 2015	02015-04-03-00003 April 2015
United Arab Emirates	02001-01-01-00001 January 2001		02012-02-13-000013 February 2012
United Kingdom[23]	01998-01-01-00001998	02007-10-17-000017 October 2007	02012-10-24-000024 October 2012
United States[24]	01998-01-01-00001998	02007-01-01-00002007	02009-06-12-000012 June 2009 (Full power stations) 02015-09-01-00001 September 2015 (Low power stations)

Transitions around the world

Transitions completed

Europe

•  Netherlands moved to digital-only broadcasting on Monday, 11 December 2006, being the first country to do so. The switch-off was helped greatly by the fact that about 80% of Dutch households subscribe to cable systems, which continued to use analog distribution, and thus their old tuners continued to be useful. Like Germany, Sweden and Japan, the Netherlands still has a high number of analog cable viewers and therefore a switchover to Digital broadcasting is unlikely to happen in the near future.

•  Finland ceased analog terrestrial transmissions nationwide at 04:00, Saturday, 1 September 2007^[25] (the switch-off was previously planned for midnight on September 1 but a few extra hours were added for technical reasons). This was controversial, as the cost of a digital TV set in Finland at the time was heavily criticised and saw a substantial decrease in how much the television license cost. Cable TV viewers continued to receive analog broadcasts until the end of February 2008.
•  Andorra completed its switch-off on Tuesday 25 September 2007.^[26]
•  Sweden: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial network progressed region–by–region. It started on the island of Gotland on Monday, 19 September 2005, and was completed on Monday, 29 October 2007, when the last analog SVT1 transmitters in Blekinge and western Scania were shut down.^[27] Like the Netherlands, Germany and Japan, cable distributors continued broadcasting analog television. Cable broadcasters continue to broadcast in analog (like the Netherlands and Germany), so therefore a cable switchover is unlikely to happen in the near future.
•   Switzerland began with the switch-off on Monday 24 July 2006 in Ticino and continued with Engadin on Monday 13 November 2006. The switch-off was completed on Monday 26 November 2007. A very high percentage of Swiss viewers receive their signals via cable distributors. By 2012 40% of cable viewers have switched to digital. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 2015.^[28]
•  Germany started the switch-off in the Berlin area, beginning on Friday, 1 November 2002 and completing on Monday 4 August 2003. "Simulcast" digital transmissions started in other parts of the country in an effort to prepare for a full switchover. The switch-off of terrestrial analog transmitters was completed on Tuesday 25 November 2008, except one main transmitter in Bad Mergentheim, which was shut down in June 2009. analog satellite receivers were still used by 6% of households in 2010 - the highest in Europe. The analog satellite transmissions were switched off on Monday 30 April 2012, being the last in Europe. However, analog cable is still used by about 30% of the population and 55% of all cable broadcasts, so therefore a cable switchover is unlikely to happen in the near future.
•  Isle of Man switched off all analog services on Thursday 16 July 2009.^[29]
  Further information: Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom and Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom
•  Denmark switched off all analog services at midnight on Sunday 1 November 2009.^[30]
•  Norway: The switch-off of the analog transmissions started in March 2008 and was completed on Tuesday 1 December 2009. Norway started its DTT service on the Saturday 1 September 2007.^[31]
•  Belgium: Media regulations are under regional legislation. Flanders switched off analog television on Monday 3 November 2008, while in Wallonia, all analog services were switched off on Monday, 1 March 2010, making Belgium a country completely serviced by a digital signal. However, analog cable is still used by many cable subscribers, so therefore a cable switchover is unlikely to happen in the near future.

•  Spain: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Saturday 3 April 2010. The switch-off was successful, as about 70% of Spanish television transmissions are terrestrial, so it was easy for people to just switch to the digital signal. Spain started its DTT service on Wednesday 30 November 2005.^[32]
•  Latvia's analog television completely converted to digital broadcasting on Tuesday 1 June 2010.
•  Estonia's analog television was switched off completely on Thursday, 1 July 2010.
•  Jersey and  Guernsey switched off their analog signals on Wednesday 17 November 2010.
  Further information: Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom and Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom
•  Croatia: analog television broadcasts were switched off for all national TV channels on Tuesday 5 October 2010 at 12:35 and for local TV channels on Saturday 20 November 2010.^[33]
•  Slovenia: the switch-off on main transmitters was completed on Wednesday 1 December 2010. The last local analog transmitters were switched off on Thursday 30 June 2011.
•  San Marino completed its switch-off on Thursday 2 December 2010.
•  Luxembourg shut down their last analog transmitter on UHF Channel 21 on Friday 31 December 2010.
•  Monaco switched off their analog TV broadcasts on Tuesday 24 May 2011.
•  Austria: Began analog switch-off on Monday, 5 March 2007, progressing from the west to the east.^[34] The analog broadcast was shut down nationwide at the end of 2010 regarding the main transmitters.^[35] The last analog translators were switched off on 7 June 2011.
•  Cyprus terminated all analog transmissions on Thursday 30 June 2011 and moved to digital-only transmissions in MPEG-4 on Friday 1 July 2011.
•  Malta terminated all analog services on Monday, 31 October 2011. The switch-off was originally planned for Wednesday 1 June 2011 but was delayed for unknown reasons.^[36]
•  France switched off all analog services (terrestrial, satellite and cable) on Tuesday, 29 November 2011. This included overseas departments and territories such as Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna.
•  Portugal: Digital broadcasts started on Wednesday 29 April 2009. Portugal's government hoped to cover 80% of the territory with DTV by the end of 2009, and simulcasts remained until Thursday 26 April 2012, when the analog broadcasting ended. The switchover began on Thursday 12 January 2012.
•  Czech Republic: The last analog retransmitters in the south-east Moravia and the northern Moravia - Silesia were switched off on Saturday, 30 June 2012.
•  Italy: The conversion to digital television progressed region–by–region. It started in Sardinia on Wednesday 15 October 2008, and was completed on Wednesday 4 July 2012, when the last analog transmitters in the Province of Palermo were shut down.
•  United Kingdom: Digital terrestrial broadcasting began in the UK on Sunday 15 November 1998 with the launch of the ONdigital, later renamed ITV Digital and now Freeview. The transition from analog and digital to digital-only terrestrial signals started on Wednesday 17 October 2007 with the Whitehaven transmitter in Cumbria,^[37] and followed a transmitter switchover timetable, implemented by region. The first constituent country to switch off all its analog signals was Wales on Wednesday 31 March 2010^[23] and the last region to switch off its analog signals was Northern Ireland on Wednesday 24 October 2012.^[38] analog cable broadcasts ended in January 2012, with Milton Keynes still relying on analog cable, which the town will not get an analog switch-off. Analog satellite was discontinued on Thursday 27 September 2001, making the UK and Ireland the first countries in Europe with digital-only satellite.
  Further information: Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom and Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom
•  Ireland: Digital television was launched in Ireland as Saorview on Friday 29 October 2010.^[13] At launch it had 5 standard-definition channels and 1 high-definition channel. The analog service was terminated on Wednesday 24 October 2012 ^[39] and will be replaced by a second multiplex for Saorview. A small number of low power independent analog re-broadcast systems (often termed 'deflectors') on UHF are still on air in parts of Ireland and six remain licensed until the Monday 31 December 2012.^[40] There has been no date released for the shutdown of analog cable, and many major cable companies (e.g. UPC Ireland) are still actively offering analog. analog satellite was discontinued on Thursday 27 September 2001, making the UK and Ireland the first countries in Europe with digital-only satellite.
•  Lithuania: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Monday, 29 October 2012.
•  Slovakia: Slovakia finished analog transmission broadcasts on Monday, 31 December 2012.
•  Gibraltar analog transmissions ceased in December 2012.
•  Macedonia: analog transmission terminated on Saturday, 1 June 2013.^[41]
•  Poland: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Tuesday, 23 July 2013.
•  Bulgaria: The analog signal was officially terminated on Monday, 30 September 2013.^[42]

•  Hungary: Hungarian analog terrestrial transmissions stopped on Thursday, 31 October 2013, after completing two phases that ended on 31 July and 31 October, respectively.
•  Iceland The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Monday, 2 February 2015.^[43][44][45]
•  Greece The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Friday, 6 February 2015.^[46][47][48]

Americas

•  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.^[49] Also on 31 August 2011, all full-power TV transmitters had to vacate channels 52 to 69. There does however remain a very small number of community-based transmitters; see Digital television in Canada

Africa

•  Namibia: shut down analog signals on 13 September 2014.
•  Algeria: digital broadcasting started in 2009, analog signals were switched off on 10 November 2014.^[50]
•  Kenya: analog switch off was supposed to take place in 2013, however media houses challenged the move in court and the switch off has since been moved to 31 December 2014 for the metropolitan areas and their surroundings while in the rest of the country the switch off will be in March 2015.
•  Nigeria: target set by Nigerian Broadcasting Commission: 17th June, 2015.^[51]

Asia

•  Israel started digital transmissions in MPEG-4 on Sunday 2 August 2009 and analog transmissions ended on Thursday 31 March 2011. Israel was the first nation in the Middle East and the first Non-European nation to shut down their analog signals.
•  Saudi Arabia started digital transmissions in MPEG-2 on 1 January 2001. analog satellite transmissions were switched off on Thursday 2 July 2009. The analog PAL was terminated on Monday 13 February 2012 and will be replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2018. Saudi Arabia was transitioning from using MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for its terrestrial broadcasts, a process which began on Sunday 26 August 2012. Saudi Arabia adopted DVB-T2 in March 2013.

•  Japan shut down all analog satellite and the analog terrestrial television in 44 prefectures at noon on Sunday 24 July 2011, while three remaining prefectures (Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi) that were destroyed or heavily damaged in the 11 March 2011 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and its related nuclear accidents stopped analog broadcasting at noon on Saturday 31 March 2012.^[52] Analog high-definition television broadcasting ended on Sunday, 30 September 2007.^[53] Like Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, analog cable continues to broadcast with a high demand too (25% of all viewings, which is known as Dejiana), but the service is scheduled to be terminated on 31 March 2015. Many television stations across the country have already begun broadcasting simultaneously in digital, beginning on Monday 1 December 2003 in the Kanto region and spreading to the other six regions by the end of analog high-definition television broadcasting.
•  Qatar started digital transmissions in MPEG-2 on 1 January 2001. analog satellite transmissions were switched off on Thursday 2 July 2009. The analog PAL was terminated on Monday 13 February 2012 and will be replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2018. Qatar was transitioning from using MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for its terrestrial broadcasts, a process which began on Sunday 26 August 2012. Qatar adopted DVB-T2 in February 2013.
•  Taiwan: Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Taiwan on Friday, 2 July 2004. analog television ended transmission on Saturday 30 June 2012. However, the process was completed in 2014, when the analog cable television shut down.
•  South Korea: Digital switchover progressed region–by–region, with the first analog transmitters in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province ending transmissions on Wednesday, September 1, 2010.^[54] Digital switchover was completed on Monday, December 31, 2012, when the last analog transmitters in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul ended transmissions. However, the South Korean government still maintains a few border analog transmitters which target North Korea; however they will be switched off on June 2015.^[55]
•  United Arab Emirates started digital transmissions in MPEG-2 on 1 January 2001. analog satellite transmissions were switched off on Thursday 2 July 2009. The analog PAL was terminated on Monday 13 February 2012 and will be replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2018. United Arab Emirates was transitioning from using MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for its terrestrial broadcasts, a process which began on Sunday 26 August 2012. United Arab Emirates adopted DVB-T2 in February 2013.
•  Vietnam: The country launched DVB-T unofficially in 1997, and shut down all analog signals for good on 28 May 2014.
•  India: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting set 31 December 2014 as the deadline for digital switchover. Digitization of cable and terrestrial television was in four phases, in a 3-year period starting from 1 November 2012, and finished on 10 November 2014.
•  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 was completed on 19 December 2014, when all analog signals were terminated.^[56][57][58]
•  Brunei: The country switched off analog TV on 1 January 2015.
•  Cambodia launched DVB-T2 on Tuesday, 9 November 2010, transition started in 2012 and finished on January 1, 2015.^[59]

Oceania

•  New Zealand: digital terrestrial television broadcasts began officially in April 2008. analog PAL switchoff started on 30 September 2012 with the North Island's Hawke's Bay region and the South Island's West Coast region and finished with the Upper North Island which was switched off 1 December 2013.^[60]
  Further information: Freeview (New Zealand) and Digital changeover dates in New Zealand
•  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 analog 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) did so slightly earlier, on Tuesday 10 December 2013 at 9:00 am.^[5] Until the switch-off in the respective areas, free-to-air stations were simulcast, along with digital-only channels like ABC2. Cable television networks began simulcasting in 2004 and analog cable services were switched off in April 2007. The switchover was co-ordinated by the Digital Switchover Taskforce operating under the federal Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Transitions in progress

Europe

•  Albania: Analog broadcasts will be switched off on June 17, 2015.
•  Armenia: Will shut down analog signals on July 10, 2015.
•  Azerbaijan: Began analog switch-off on Sunday, 17 October 2010, is expected to complete on June 17, 2015.^[61][62]
•  Belarus: Analog broadcasts will be switched off on Friday, May 15, 2015. Phased analog switch-off began August 1, 2013.
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina: Will shut down analog signals on June 17, 2015.
•  Georgia: Analog broadcasts will be switched off on June 17, 2015.
•  Moldova: Will shut down analog signals on June 17, 2015.
•  Montenegro: Will shut down analog signals on June 17, 2015.
•  Republic of Kosovo (partially recognized state): Will shutdown analog signals in June 17, 2015.
•  Romania plans to switch off analog broadcasting on June 17, 2015. It began phasing out the analog transmission on 30 April 2014, with 5 licences awarded for the DTT multiplexes.^[63]
•  Russia The deadline for analog switch-off signal in is 2019.^[64]
•  Serbia launched its first DTT transmissions in 2005. The first DTT-only channel was made available in 2008. The deadline for the transition to digital has been moved from April 4, 2012 to April 30, 2015. As of 2013, the initial DVB-T2 network covers Belgrade and much of Vojvodina, several cities in Šumadija and Western Serbia and the southern city of Niš.^[65] Digital TV switchover for 98% of citizens started on September 1, 2014. Transition will progress in three stages of analog switchoff.

First switchoff took place in Vršac on April 15, 2015.^[66]

•  Turkey launched trial digital transmissions in 2006 and originally planned to gradually handle the switchover, with a scheduled completion date of 2015. It will be completed on March 3, 2015.^[67][68]
•  Ukraine: analog switch-off will take place in four stages. The first phase of analog switch-off will start on June 15, 2015. Analog broadcasting will be completely turned off December 31, 2016.^[69]

Americas

•  Argentina: Digital television broadcasts started on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 in Buenos Aires. The analog network will be terminated on 1 September 2017.
•  Bolivia: Started on Tuesday, 20 July 2010, it will be completed on 1 September 2017.
•  Brazil: Began free-to-air HD digital transmissions, after a period of test broadcasts, on Sunday, 2 December 2007 in São Paulo, expanding in 2008 to Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte.^[70] Digital broadcasts were phased into the other 23 state capitals in the following years, and to the remaining cities by Tuesday 31 December 2013.^[71] analog and digital simulcasts were scheduled to continue until Wednesday, 29 June 2016, supposedly to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when analog would be discontinued. The main broadcasters (Globo, Record, Band, SBT and RedeTV!) are simulcasting in analog and digital, in standard definition and 1080i high definition. However, in 2013, the government announced that analog broadcasts will end in 2018 instead of 2016.^[72] In July 10, 2014, the Brazilian Ministry of Communications released a timetable for phasing out analog TV signals, starting in November 29, 2015 in Rio Verde, Goiás as a pilot experiment, followed by state capitals, the Federal District and main cities and regions from April 3, 2016 to November 25, 2018, when it is expected the ending of all analog television broadcasting.^[73]
•  Chile: The transition to digital started in 2012, and the switch-off is scheduled for 31 December 2016.
•  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. analog 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.^[74] 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 was postponed to July 18 due to the 2013 Baja California state elections.^[75] Switchover is scheduled to be completed on December 31, 2015.^[15]
•  Paraguay: The transmission of digital television broadcasts started on August 2011, by TV Pública (which belongs to the Paraguayan government) with an initial coverage area of 25 kilometres (about 16 miles) from Asuncion downtown. The analog television system switch-off is estimated to be completed on Tuesday, 1 September 2017.
•  Peru: Digital television broadcasts started in Lima in March 2010, and analog broadcasts are scheduled to be terminated on 1 September 2017.
•  United States: On Monday, 8 September 2008, Wilmington, North Carolina became the first city in the United States to fully switch over from analog to digital broadcasts. All analog 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.^[76] Having moved the deadline from Tuesday, 17 February 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 Friday, 12 June 2009, with the exception of "nightlight" analog stations (which broadcast 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 Saturday, 31 December 2011, to allow FCC to commence with the first phase of VHF/UHF TV spectrum allotment for other services. LPTV transmitters (primarily low-powered (LP), and Class-A low-powered (-CA) stations, and also broadcast translator (TX) translator/repeaters in rural communities) will be forced to convert to digital by Tuesday, 1 September 2015.^[24]
  Further information: Digital television transition in the United States

Asia

•  China: analog in CCTV1 to CCTV5 was terminated on 31 January 2014 at 12:00 AM. analog services on CCTV6-CCTV10 were terminated on 22 November 2014. Other channels that will terminate analog broadcasts will follow this schedule: 12 July 2015 (CCTV11-CCTV16), 14 May 2016 (CCTV17-CCTV21), 17 August 2016 (CCTV22-CCTV27), 31 December 2016 (CCTV28-CCTV32), 25 May 2017 (CCTV33-CCTV36), and 1 January 2018 (CCTV37-CCTV45). The last date will mark the switchover to digital broadcast.
•  Hong Kong's analog broadcasting was planned to be switched off by 2012.^[77] However, it has been postponed until the end of 2015.^[78]
•  Indonesia: Digital switchover has been postponed to 2021.
  Further information: Digital television in Indonesia
•  Malaysia: The first roll-out of DTTB services were rolled out on 16 January 2014, for a start in a few test areas, while full nationwide coverage to an estimated 98% populated areas is slated by the end of the analog-digital simulcast period.^[79] It is expected that Malaysia will terminate analog signal in 2017.
•  Philippines: In June 2010, the National Telecommunications Commission set a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on 31 December 2015 for the discontinuation of analog television. However since the last quarter of 2014, the digitization deadline has been postponed to 2019 ^[80] and should be expected that all analog broadcasts will be shut off in 2020.^[2] Philippine television network ABS-CBN started its test broadcasting in digital format for its launching of the network's digital set-top box called ABS-CBN TV Plus on 11 February 2015, became the first TV network in the country to do so. It uses the Japanese ISDB standards.
  Further information: Digital television in the Philippines
•  Singapore launched digital terrestrial television under MediaCorp in January 2009. The rest of the analog signals will be switched off in 2018.^[81] analog broadcasting through StarHub was discontinued on Tuesday, 30 June 2009.
•  Thailand launched digital terrestrial television in May 2014 after postponed for 12 years. Analog signals will be switched off in 2020.
  Further information: Digital television in Thailand

Transitions not yet started

Americas

•  Colombia: The government has plans to close down analog broadcast on Sunday, 1 January 2017.
•  Costa Rica: Will shut down analog signals permanently in December 2018.
•  Cuba began to propose DVB-T in May 2009, and the analog switchoff will take place approximately 15 years later, most likely in 2024.^[82]
•  Dominican Republic: Will shut down analog signals in September 2015.
•  El Salvador: The target date is Tuesday, 1 January 2019.^[83]

Africa

The rest of Africa will switch off all analog signals on 3 April 2015.

Asia

The rest of Asia will switch off all analog signal on the midnight of 1 January 2016.

Digital-to-analog converters

After the switch from analog to digital broadcasts is complete, analog TVs will be incapable of receiving over-the-air broadcasts without the addition of a set-top converter box. Consequently, a digital converter box – an electronic device that connects to an analog television – must be used in order to allow the television to receive digital broadcasts.^[84] In the United States, the government subsidized the purchase of such boxes for consumers via their coupon-eligible converter box program in 2009, funded by a small part of the billions of dollars brought in by a spectrum auction. The program was managed by the Department of Commerce through its National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

See also

• List of digital television deployments by country
• Digital dividend after digital television transition
• Digital television

References

Further reading

• Hart, Jeffrey A., Television, technology, and competition : HDTV and digital TV in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-82624-1

External links

Wikinews has related news: Finnish terrestrial analog TV network shut down

Wikinews has related news: Denmark holds nationwide light show to mark digital switchover

• Digital Switchover UK
• EU Switchover from analog to digital broadcasting
• Digital UK
• DigiTAG
• DigiTAG Handbook on ASO

Digital television deployments by country Australia Bulgaria Canada Malaysia Netherlands Philippines Poland Portugal Thailand United Kingdom United States Digital television transition

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