Chilean Telecommunications Sub Secretary (Subtel) put off in May the legal obligation to implement the analog blackout in the country, originally scheduled for April 2020, and set a new deployment plan that aims regional capitals to implement DTT migration in 2021, while the deadline for provincial capitals is 2023. The entity reported that Canal 13 is the most advanced channel with 16 covered cities, and TVN has covered 13.
Cristian Nuñez, Technology and New Business Director at Canal 13 said they already have 17 broadcasters in all the country’s regional capitals. ‘This enables us to reach more than 85% of the population in HD quality, and for free’, he expressed, and added that, by the end of the year, they will have 30 more broadcasters and, for the first half of 2020, they will have 50 available. In addition, the TV channel has another 10 migrations to be completed.
TVN has already covered 13 regional capitals, while La Red and Chilevision have 10 each, followed by Mega, with seven regional capital implemented. ‘We have prioritized regional capitals because of a matter of population coverage. With 16 TDT stations, 75% of the population is covered’. said Antonio Escobar, Managing Director at Megamedia.
According to figures from the Chilean National Television Council (CNTV), there are 511 analog concessions to migrate to DTT. From the already mentioned total, 373 concessions (73%) are still pending, but advanced in their migration processes, and the remaining 138 (27%) are already implemented. Regional channels have 115 concessions, and 65% already have a technical project to move forward the DTT migration process. From Chilean national channels, from 396 concessions, 137 (35%) has a technical project developed, while the other 259 concessions (the remaining 65%) do not have it yet.
‘In terms of new concessions, this year we finished the first stage by delivering 51 new digital networks, and launched 31 new requests. These processes will be completed by the end of this year or early 2020’, said Catalina Parot, CNTV’s President. Pamela Gidi, Chilean Telecommunications Vice Minister, also expressed herself on the matter and said that it is ‘rewarding to see the progress made by FTA TV channels nationwide in terms of digital TV implementation, although there is still so much to be done’.