Digital television transition

The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover or analog switch-off (ASO), 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 Australia, 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+ were switched off first.

Purpose of the transition

Almost all analog formats in current use - PAL, NTSC, and SECAM - 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: Luxembourg (terrestrial) and the Netherlands
• 2007: Andorra, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland
• 2008: Germany
• 2009: Denmark, Isle of Man, Norway and the United States (full power stations)
• 2010: Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Guernsey, Jersey, Latvia, Luxembourg (cable television and satellite), San Marino, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom (Wales)
• 2011: Austria, Canada (major markets), Cyprus, France, Israel, Japan (except Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures), Malta, Monaco, Turkey and the United Kingdom (Scotland)
• 2012: Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan (Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures), Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom (England and Northern Ireland)
• 2013: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Republic of Macedonia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Poland and Zimbabwe
• 2014: Serbia, Iceland and Namibia, Algeria
• 2015: Belarus, Brunei, Greece, India, Iran, Morocco, Romania, Rwanda, Turkey, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana
• 2016: Bermuda, Brazil (Federal District), Mexico, Mongolia, Laos, Ukraine, Chile and China (CCTV)
• 2017: Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka^[1] and Indonesia
• 2018: Brazil (major markets, including all markets in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states), Costa Rica, Moldova and El Salvador
• 2019: Argentina, Russia and Thailand
• 2020: Panama, Philippines, Hong Kong,^[2] Venezuela and Vietnam
• 2021: Cuba and Dominican Republic^[3]
• 2023: Brazil (other markets)

Other information

The Geneva 2006 Agreement set 17 June 2015 as the date after which countries may use 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 was generally viewed as an internationally mandated analog switch-off date, at least along national borders.^[4] The European Commission has recommended that digital switchover should be completed by 1 January 2012 - Commission Recommendation 2009/848/EC, of 28 October 2009.^[5]

Digital switchover at a glance

Country	DTT transmission commenced	Switch-over commenced	Switch-over completed
Andorra			000000002007-09-25-000025 September 2007
Australia[6]	000000002001-01-01-00001 January 2001	000000002010-06-30-000030 June 2010	000000002013-12-10-000010 December 2013
Belgium	16 July 2002 (RTBF) 31 May 2004 (VRT)	000000002008-11-03-00003 November 2008	000000002010-03-01-00001 March 2010 (RTBF) 3 November 2008 (VRT)
Brazil[7]	000000002007-12-02-00002 December 2007	000000002016-02-15-000015 February 2016	000000002023-12-31-000031 December 2023
Bulgaria	000000002009-01-01-00001 January 2009	000000002013-03-01-00001 March 2013	000000002013-09-30-000030 September 2013
Canada	000000002003-03-01-00001 March 2003	000000002011-08-31-000031 August 2011	TBD
Croatia[8]	000000002002-06-13-000013 June 2002	000000002010-01-26-000026 January 2010	000000002010-10-05-00005 October 2010
Czech Republic[9]	000000002005-10-01-0000October 2005	000000002007-09-01-0000September 2007	000000002012-02-12-000012 February 2012
Denmark	000000002003-03-01-00001 March 2003		000000002009-11-01-00001 November 2009
El Salvador	000000002009-04-22-000022 April 2009	000000002018-03-01-00001 March 2018	000000002019-01-01-00001 January 2019
Estonia			000000002010-07-01-00001 July 2010
Finland	000000002001-08-21-000021 August 2001		000000002007-09-01-00001 September 2007
France[10]	000000002005-03-31-000031 March 2005	000000002010-02-02-00002 February 2010	000000002011-11-29-000029 November 2011
Germany		000000002002-11-01-00001 November 2002	000000002008-11-25-000025 November 2008
Greece	000000002006-03-20-000020 March 2006	000000002009-09-24-000024 September 2009	000000002015-02-06-00006 February 2015
Guernsey			000000002010-11-17-000017 November 2010
Hungary[11][12]	000000002001-10-01-0000October 2001	000000002013-07-31-000031 July 2013	000000002013-10-31-000031 October 2013
India[13][14]	000000002003-01-26-000026 January 2003	000000002012-10-31-000031 October 2012	000000002017-12-31-000031 December 2017
Indonesia	000000002008-08-13-000013 August 2008 (as DVB-T) 000000002012-10-16-000016 October 2012 (as DVB-T2)		000000002018-01-01-00001 January 2018
Ireland[15]	000000002010-10-29-000029 October 2010		000000002012-10-24-000024 October 2012
Isle of Man			000000002009-07-24-000024 July 2009
Italy	000000002003-01-01-00002003	000000002008-10-15-000015 October 2008	000000002012-07-04-00004 July 2012
Israel	2 August 2009		31 March 2011
Japan[16]	000000002003-12-01-00001 December 2003	24 September 2010	000000002012-03-31-000031 March 2012
Jersey			000000002010-11-17-000017 November 2010
Latvia			000000002010-06-01-00001 June 2010
Lithuania	000000002001-03-01-0000March 2001		000000002012-10-29-000029 October 2012
Macedonia	000000002004-05-04-00004 May 2004	000000002010-01-01-00001 January 2010	000000002013-06-01-00001 June 2013
Malaysia	000000002014-01-16-000016 January 2014	TBD	TBD
Mexico[17]	000000002004-07-02-00002 July 2004	000000002013-07-18-000018 July 2013	000000002016-12-31-000031 December 2016
Netherlands			000000002006-12-11-000011 December 2006
New Zealand[18]	000000002007-05-02-00002 May 2007	000000002012-09-30-000030 September 2012	000000002013-12-01-00001 December 2013
Norway	000000002007-09-01-00001 September 2007	000000002008-03-01-00001 March 2008	000000002009-12-01-00001 December 2009
Peru	000000002010-03-30-000030 March 2010	000000002020-07-28-000028 July 2020	000000002023-01-03-00003 January 2023
Poland	000000002010-09-30-000030 September 2010	000000002012-11-07-00007 November 2012	000000002013-07-23-000023 July 2013
Portugal	000000002009-04-29-000029 April 2009	000000002012-01-12-000012 January 2012	000000002012-04-26-000026 April 2012
Philippines	000000002008-10-01-0000October 2008	000000002015-12-31-000031 December 2015	000000002020-01-01-00002020[2]
Qatar	000000002001-01-01-00001 January 2001		000000002012-02-13-000013 February 2012
Saudi Arabia	000000002001-01-01-00001 January 2001		000000002012-02-13-000013 February 2012
Slovakia[19][20][21]	000000002009-12-22-000022 December 2009	000000002010-10-28-000028 October 2010	000000002012-12-31-000031 December 2012
Slovenia			000000002011-06-30-000030 June 2011
South Africa[22]	000000002016-02-01-00001 February 2016	TBD	TBD
South Korea	000000002001-10-26-000026 October 2001	000000002010-09-01-00001 September 2010	000000002012-12-31-000031 December 2012
Spain[23][24]	000000001999-11-15-000015 November 1999	000000002008-04-05-00005 April 2008	000000002010-04-03-00003 April 2010
Sweden	000000001999-01-01-00001999	000000002005-09-19-000019 September 2005	000000002007-10-29-000029 October 2007
Switzerland		000000002006-06-01-00001 June 2006	000000002008-01-01-00001 January 2008
Taiwan	000000002004-01-01-00001 January 2004	000000002012-05-07-00007 May 2012	000000002012-06-30-000030 June 2012
Thailand	000000002014-04-01-00001 April 2014	000000002015-12-01-00001 December 2015	000000002019-12-31-000031 December 2019
Tunisia[25]	000000002012-01-01-00002012	000000002015-03-06-00006 March 2015	000000002015-04-03-00003 April 2015
United Arab Emirates	000000002001-01-01-00001 January 2001		000000002012-02-13-000013 February 2012
United Kingdom[26]	000000001998-01-01-00001998	000000002007-10-17-000017 October 2007	000000002012-10-24-000024 October 2012
United States[27]	000000001998-01-01-00001998	000000002008-09-08-00008 September 2008	TBD[28]
Serbia	000000002005-01-01-00002005	000000002014-01-01-00002014	000000002015-06-07-00007 June 2015
Vietnam	000000001997-01-01-00001997	000000002014-05-28-000028 May 2014	000000002020-12-31-000031 December 2020

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 and Sweden, 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.

Analog closedown warning broadcast in Finland.

•  Finland ceased analog terrestrial transmissions nationwide at 04:00, Saturday, 1 September 2007^[29] (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.^[30]
•  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, 15 October 2007, when the last analog SVT1 transmitters in Blekinge and western Scania were shut down.^[31] 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 planned to shut off analog cable by 2015.^[32]
•  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.^[33]
  Further information: Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom and Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom
•  Denmark switched off all terrestrial analog services at midnight on Sunday 1 November 2009.^[34] Analogue cable was switched off at 9 February 2016.^[35]
•  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.^[36]
•  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 the country completely serviced by 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.

Analog closedown warning broadcast in Spain.

•  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.^[37]
•  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.^[38]
•  Slovenia: The switch-off of 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.^[39] The analog broadcast was shut down nationwide at the end of 2010 regarding the main transmitters.^[40] 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.^[41]
•  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,^[42] 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^[26] and the last region to switch off its analog signals was Northern Ireland on Wednesday 24 October 2012.^[43] 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.^[15] At launch it had 5 standard-definition channels and 1 high-definition channel. The analog service was terminated on Wednesday 24 October 2012 ^[44] and was replaced by a second multiplex for Saorview. A small number of low power independent analog re-broadcast systems remained licensed until the Monday 31 December 2012.^[45] 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 transmissions were terminated on Saturday, 1 June 2013.^[46]
•  Poland: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Tuesday, 23 July 2013.
  Further information: Digital terrestrial television in Poland
•  Bulgaria: The analog signal was officially terminated on Monday, 30 September 2013.^[47]

•  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: All analog terrestrial transmissions were switched off on Monday, 2 February 2015.^[48][49][50]
•  Greece: The analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated on Friday, 6 February 2015.^[51][52][53]
•  Serbia launched its first DTT transmissions in 2005. The first DTT-only channel was made available in 2008. As of 2013, the DVB-T2 network covers Belgrade and much of Vojvodina, several cities in Šumadija and Western Serbia and the southern city of Niš.^[54] Digital TV switchover for 98% of citizens started on September 1, 2014. Transition progressed in six stages. First switchoff took place in Vršac on April 15, 2015.^[55] Last switchoff took place on June 7, 2015.
•  Montenegro: Has shut down analog signals on June 17, 2015.^[56]
•  Albania: Analog broadcasts were switched off on June 17, 2015.
•  Azerbaijan: Began analog switch-off on Sunday, 17 October 2010, completed on June 17, 2015.^[57][58]
•  Kosovo (partially recognized state): Has shutdown analog signals on June 17, 2015.
•  Romania has switched 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, and also the second part is commencing in 2017.^[59]
•  Georgia: Analog broadcasts should have been switched off June 17, 2015, but due to the flooding in Tbilisi, which occurred on the night of 13 to 14 June 2015 analogue switch-off happened on July 1, 2015.^[60]
•  Armenia: Has shut down analog signals on July 10, 2015.
•  Belarus: Analogue broadcasting was disabled May 15, 2015 in UHF band and June 16, 2015 in the VHF band (channels 6-12). The final analogue switch-off occurred at the end of 2015.

Africa

•  Namibia: Analog signals were terminated on 13 September 2014.
•  Algeria: Digital broadcasting started in 2009, analog signals were switched off on 10 November 2014.^[61]
•  Morocco: Analogue transmitters were switched off on 17 June 2015.
•  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 switched to DVB-T2 in March 2015.
•  Ghana: Analog switch-off occurred in June 2015, switching to DVB-T.^[62]
•  Rwanda: Shut off the last of its analog signals in March 2014. Switched to DVB-T,^[63] with plans to upgrade to DVB-T2 in the future.^[64]
•  Tanzania: Shut off the last of its analog signals in July 2014. Switched to DVB-T2^[63][65]
•  Mauritius: Analog shut off on June 17, 2014. Switched to DVB-T.^[63]
•  Zambia: Analog shut off on December 31, 2014. Switched to DVB-T2.^[66][67]
•  Gabon turned off all analog signals on June 17, 2016.^[68]

Americas

•  Bermuda: The Bermuda Broadcasting Company terminated over-the-air NTSC-M broadcasts as of March 2016. ZFB-TV (analog channel 7) and ZBM-TV (analog channel 9), the two television stations in Bermuda, have now switched to digital channels 20.1 and 20.2, respectively.^[69] Like its parent nation (the United Kingdom) and unlike the United States, Canada and the Bahamas (which have been transitioning to ATSC), Bermuda switched over to DVB-T.

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: The analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated on Monday 13 February 2012 and was replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2023. 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. Analog satellite transmission were switched off on Monday 1 March 2004. Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Arab world on Monday 1 January 2001 (known as Nilesat).

Example of analog broadcast termination notice screen in Japan.

•  Japan: The analog shutdown began on 24 September 2010 in Suzu, Ishikawa. Analog terrestrial television transmissions in the remainder of Ishikawa Prefecture and 43 other prefectures stopped analog broadcasting at noon on Sunday 24 July 2011, along with the analog satellite services; 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.^[70] Analog high-definition television broadcasting ended on Sunday, 30 September 2007.^[71] Like Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, an analog cable service (known as Dejiana since 1 July 2011) continued to be broadcast, but starting on 1 April 2012, all cable providers in Japan were required to convert from analog to digital within the next three years. The last cable providers shut down their analog services on 30 April 2015.^[72] All television stations across the country are now broadcasting only in digital, ending an analog-digital simulcast period that began on Monday 1 December 2003 in the Kantō region (which expanded to all other prefectures over the next four years) and ended between 24 July 2011 and 31 March 2012 (when all analog transmissions were shut down).
•  Qatar: The analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated on Monday, 13 February 2012 and was replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2023. 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. Analog satellite transmission were switched off on Monday 1 March 2004. Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Arab world on Monday 1 January 2001 (known as Nilesat).
•  Taiwan: Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Taiwan on Friday, 2 July 2004. Analog terrestrial television ended transmission on Saturday, 30 June 2012. The shut down of analog cable television is in progress.
•  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.^[73] Digital switchover was completed on Monday, December 31, 2012, when the last analog transmitters in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul ended transmissions. A few border analog transmitters targeting North Korea were switched off in June 2015.^[74]
•  United Arab Emirates: The analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated on Monday, 13 February 2012 and was replaced by a multiplex for Nilesat. The government plans to shut off analog cable by 31 March 2023. United Arab Emirates were 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. Analog satellite transmission were switched off on Monday 1 March 2004. Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Arab world on Monday 1 January 2001 (known as Nilesat).
•  India: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has set 31 December 2017 as the deadline for digital switchover. Digitalization of cable and terrestrial television is happening in four phases, starting from 1 November 2012, and expected to finish on 31 December 2017.
•  Cambodia launched DVB-T2 on Tuesday, 9 November 2010, transition started in 2012 and finished on January 1, 2015.^[75]
•  Turkey launched trial digital transmissions in 2006 and originally planned to gradually handle the switchover. The completion date was late 2015.

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.^[76]
  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.^[6] 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

•  Moldova: Will shut down analog signals in 2018.
•  Russia: The deadline for analog switch-off signal is in 2019.^[77]
•  Ukraine: Analog switch-off will take place in four stages. The first phase of analog switch-off started on June 15, 2015. Analog broadcasting will be completely turned off December 31, 2016.^[78]

Africa

•  Botswana began digital broadcasts in 2008, using ISDB-T.^[79]
•  Ethiopia has begun its digital switch-over to DVB-T2 with help from American digital transmitter manufacturer GatesAir and funded by JPMorgan Chase and Export Development Canada.^[80]
•  Mozambique began transitioning to DVB-T2 in 2013.
•  Nigeria^[81]
•  Tunisia
•  South Africa

Americas

•  Argentina: Digital television broadcasts started on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 in Buenos Aires. The analog network will be terminated on 1 January 2019.
•  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.^[82] Digital broadcasts were phased into the other 23 state capitals in the following years, and to the remaining cities by Tuesday 31 December 2013.^[83] The country started on February 15, 2016 in Rio Verde, Goiás as a pilot experiment, followed by the Federal District and main cities and metropolitan regions from October 26, 2016 to December 31, 2023, when it is expected the ending of all analog television broadcasting.^[84]
•  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.^[85] 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.
•  Chile: The transition to digital started in 2012, and the switch-off is scheduled for Saturday, 31 December 2016.
•  Colombia: The government has plans to close down analog broadcast on Sunday, 1 January 2017 at 12:00 AM or 0:00 Hrs.
•  Costa Rica: Will shut down analog signals permanently in December 2018.
•  Dominican Republic: The Dominican Government once set a final analog shut down date of all analog transmissions on 24 September 2015.^[86] However, INDOTEL, a telecommunications department of the Dominican Government, postponed it to 9 August 2021.^[3]
•  El Salvador: The target date is 31 December 2018.^[87]
•  Mexico: Digital broadcasts commenced in 2000, with the first being Tijuana's XETV - an English-language television station primarily serving San Diego, California. Analog shutdown was originally scheduled to occur in 2021, but on Thursday, September 2, 2010, Mexican government advanced the analog shutdown from 2021 to 2015.^[88] From 2013, areas began to be switched over regionally depending on the presence of digital television stations and a campaign headed by the SCT to distribute free television converters to households on the government welfare rolls. The first digital switchover was to begin on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 in Tijuana, but was postponed to July 18 due to the 2013 Baja California state elections.^[89] The switchover was completed nationwide on December 31, 2015, when all remaining analog television stations left the air.^[17] There does however remain a very small number of community-based transmitters, which must switch off before December 31, 2016.
•  Paraguay: The transmission of digital television broadcasts started in 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 Friday, 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.
•  Venezuela
•  Uruguay
•  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.^[90] Having moved the deadline from Tuesday, 17 February 2009 (some stations still chose to shut down 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. Class-A low-powered (-CA) were required to convert to digital by Tuesday, 1 September 2015, however, Low Power Television and Translator conversion dates were suspended for by the FCC because of economic concerns with an upcoming spectrum auction for Digital signals on LPTV and Translators.^[91]
  Further information: Digital television transition in the United States
  ^[28]
•  Panama

Asia

•  North Korea: On 19 January 2015, Korean Central Television, the country's state broadcaster, began broadcasting via digital satellite. However, there is no deadline yet for when the analog terrestrial network will switch over to digital.^[92][93]
•  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.^[94][95][96] There is no deadline yet for converting analog signals to digital.
•  China: China Central Television, the country's state broadcaster, began its conversion from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting on all of its channels in 2014. Analog broadcasts of CCTV-1, CCTV-2, CCTV-3, CCTV-4, CCTV-5, and CCTV-5+ were terminated on 31 January 2014, while analog broadcasts of CCTV-6, CCTV-7, CCTV-8, CCTV-9, and CCTV-10 were terminated on 22 November 2014. On 12 July 2015 analog broadcasts of CCTV-11, CCTV-12, CCTV-13, CCTV-14, and CCTV-15 were terminated. Analog broadcasts of CCTV-News, CCTV-F, CCTV-E, CCTV International Arabic, and CCTV International Russian ended on 14 May 2016. This date marked the completion of the CCTV's switchover to digital broadcasting. No deadline has been set for commercially owned private broadcasters to shut down their analog signals.
•  Hong Kong's The original digital switchover plan was supposed to take place in 2012.^[97] The plan has been postponed by the end of 2020.^[98]
•  Indonesia: Indira Salwa Mahira said, analogue terrestrial television will be switched off nationally on January 1, 2018 at 12:00 AM Indonesia Western Time/1:00 AM Indonesia Central Time/2:00 AM Indonesia Eastern Time. Digital terrestrial television were launched on August 13, 2008 (as DVB-T) and launched also on October 16, 2012 (as DVB-T2).
  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.^[99] However, the date for analogue switch over is not yet announced.
•  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 ^[100] and should be expected that all analog broadcasts will be shut off in 2020.^[2] It uses the Japanese ISDB standards.
  Further information: Digital television in the Philippines
•  Singapore launched digital terrestrial television under MediaCorp in June 2006 (DVB-T) and December 2013 (DVB-T2). The country announced that free-to-air broadcaster MediaCorp will transmit all its free-to-air channels digitally in DVB-T2. Analogue TV channels will be switched off in end 2017 and MediaCorp TV channels will be broadcast in digital only.^[101]
•  Thailand launched digital terrestrial television in May 2014 after postponing it for 12 years. Analog signals will be switched off on December 31, 2019.
  Further information: Digital television in Thailand
•  Vietnam: The country launched DVB-T unofficially in 1997, and shut down all analog signals for good on 28 May 2014.

Transitions not yet started

Americas

•  Belize
•  Cuba began to propose DVB-T in May 2009. However, Cuba opted for the Chinese DMB-T standard and began tests in 2013, with new digital transmitters being rolled out and a shutoff date in 2021.^[102]
•  Ecuador
•  Honduras
•  Nicaragua

Africa

•  Togo Transition in Togo is being planned.^[103] Broadcasting equipment manufacturer Harris Corporation is helping to transition Togo to DVB-T2.^[104]
•  Sudan

Europe

•  Bosnia and Herzegovina: One analog transmitter has been shut down in June 2015, by request of neighboring Serbia, affecting one of the public broadcast channels, but the signal was reestablished within days. DVB-T test signal on MUX-A was expected by the end of 2015 in some parts of the country, and the tender procedure for completing MUX-A for the whole territory of the country ("second phase") has started.

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.^[105] 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. (2004). Television, technology, and competition : HDTV and digital TV in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan (PDF). New York: Cambridge University Press. 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

• EU Switchover from analog to digital broadcasting
• Digital Switchover UK
• Digital UK
• Handbook on Analog Switch Off (ASO, 2008) at Digital Television Action Group (DigiTAG)

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