Digital terrestrial television in Bulgaria

History

Bulgaria launched a free-to-air platform on Sofia region, starting in November 2004. The Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) has said that it received 6 bids for the licence to build and operate Bulgaria's two nationwide DTT networks. A second licence tender for the operation of 3 DTT multiplexes was open until 27 May 2009.^[1][2] Following the closing of this process, Hannu Pro, part of Silicon Group, and with Baltic Operations has secured the license to operate three DTT multiplexes in Bulgaria by the country's Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) Bulgaria is aiming to complete the transition to digital broadcasting in September 2013.^[3]

Simulcast

First regular digital broadcast started on 1 March 2013. Analog broadcasting will be definitely terminated at 1 September 2013. The Simulcast period (time between digital broadcast switch-on and analog broadcast switch-off) will allow people time to buy new integrated Digital TVs or set-top boxes. On 30 September 2013 the simulcast period was officially put to an end.^[4]

Technical information

Standards chosen are DVB-T and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression format. DVB-T2 will not be used for now.

Assignment of channels in multiplexes

DTT of Bulgaria

Multiplex	License to operate	Channel		Owner	Type	Launch period	Aspect ratio	Audio language	TXT	EPG	Online
National Free-to-air Television Network
MUX 1	"NURTS Digital” EAD	Bulgaria On Air		Bulgaria Air, M-Sat Cable etc.	News Documentary	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9*	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
MUX 2		bTV		Central European Media Enterprises (bTV Media Group)	General	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
		Nova television		Modern Times Group (Nova Broadcasting Group)	General	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
		Diema Family(+1)**		Modern Times Group (Nova Broadcasting Group)	series/films Female-oriented	30 September 2013 — at present	4:3	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		TV7		Alegro Capital (7 Media Group)	General	1 March 2013 — at present	4:3/16:9*	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
		News7		Alegro Capital (7 Media Group)	News Documentary Sport	7 March 2013 — at present until 7 March 2013 as BBT (Balkan Bulgarian Television)	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		bTV Lady(+1)**		Central European Media Enterprises (bTV Media Group)	series/films Female-oriented	30 September 2013 — 27 May 2014	4:3/16:9*	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		RING.BG(+1)**		Central European Media Enterprises (bTV Media Group)	Sport	30 September 2013 — 27 May 2014	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
MUX 3 (national public channels)	"First Digital” EAD	BNT 1		Bulgarian National Television	General	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9	Bulgarian	Y	Y	Y Only for Bulgaria
		BNT 1 HD		Bulgarian National Television	Sport	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		BNT 2		Bulgarian National Television	General Regional	1 March 2013 — at present	4:3/16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y Only for Bulgaria
		BNT HD		Bulgarian National Television	Sport	6 February 2014 — at present	16:9	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		BNT World		Bulgarian National Television	General Diaspora	1 March 2013 — 2 March 2013	4:3/16:9*	Bulgarian	N	N	Y
Regional Free-to-air Television Network
MUX BUL12-1 (Regional for Sofia-grad) test phase from 2006	"NURTS Bulgaria” AD	BNT 1		Bulgarian National Television	General	1 March 2013 — at present	4:3/16:9*	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y Only for Bulgaria
		Europa TV		Televizia Evropa AD	News	1 March 2013 — at present	4:3	Bulgarian	N	Y	N
		The Voice		A.E. Best Success Services Bulgaria	Music	1 March 2013 — at present	16:9*	(music) English Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
		VTV		Vesta Holding EAD	Ecology Documentary	1 March 2013 — at present	4:3	Bulgarian	N	Y	Y
		News7		Alegro Capital (7 Media Group)	News Documentary Sport	7 March 2013 — at present until 7 March 2013 as BBT (Balkan Bulgarian Television)	16:9*	Bulgarian	N	Y	N

* On these channels, the aspect ratio is constantly signaled as 4:3. The viewer has to set it to 16:9 manually - most widescreen programs include a special "16:9" watermark in one of the screen corners. BNT 2 is the only channel that changes aspect ratios automatically.
**On these channels, the program they air is one hour behind the actual one.

SFN Allotments in Bulgaria

DVB-T single-frequency network (SFN) Allotments in Bulgaria