Nghe An will officially digitize terrestrial television from December 31, 2018.

What is digital terrestrial television?

On December 27, 2011, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 2451/QD-TTg approving the “Project on digitalization of terrestrial television transmission and broadcasting by 2020”. The project officially launched on April 1, 2014 with the aim of converting terrestrial television transmission and broadcasting infrastructure from analog technology to digital technology in a modern and efficient manner. At the same time, expanding the coverage of digital terrestrial television to serve economic, cultural and social development, providing many high-quality television services.

According to the project, by 2020, it is necessary to ensure that 100% of households with television receivers receive digital television through various methods, of which digital terrestrial television accounts for 45% of television methods. By 2020, the whole country will switch from analog television to digital terrestrial television. According to calculations, when converting, about 8.5 million family televisions will not receive signals if they do not install additional digital terrestrial television receivers...

The transition to digital television is an inevitable trend in the world.

Digitalization of terrestrial television brings many benefits to television viewers, such as high quality of images, sound, increased number of television channels transmitted... On the other hand, when switching to digital terrestrial television, radio frequency resources are used much more effectively because one frequency channel can transmit many digital television channels compared to only one channel of analog television. On the state side, when the television digitalization process is completed, a part of the frequency band currently used by terrestrial television will be released, which will be an important frequency resource to deploy broadband radio information services, contributing to promoting socio-economic development. Moreover, the process of digitizing terrestrial television is an inevitable trend and has actually taken place worldwide because of the benefits it brings.

Roadmap for digital terrestrial television in Nghe An

According to the roadmap, Nghe An will officially stop broadcasting all analog television channels to switch to digital broadcasting from 0:00 on December 31, 2018. Stopping broadcasting analog terrestrial television will affect families using antennas to receive television signals using analog technology. Households using pay television services such as cable television, digital satellite television, Internet television, etc. will not be affected.

According to statistics as of December 31, 2017, in the province, there are over 15,980 poor and near-poor households in 21 districts, cities and towns who will be considered for support from the project. Nghe An Department of Information and Communications and relevant agencies will propagate and notify people in affected areas. People's Committees of districts, cities and towns will conduct statistics on the number of poor and near-poor households as of December 31, 2017 that are eligible to receive DVB-T2 receiver support. Based on the list, the Ministry of Information and Communications will support digital terrestrial television receivers to each household eligible for support. The implementation progress must be completed before the deadline of December 31, 2018.

In Nghe An, the terrestrial television digitization project implements the conversion of broadcasting and receiving technology from analogue terrestrial television to digital terrestrial television or to other television methods. Therefore, only areas where people previously received analogue terrestrial television are within the scope of the project. Areas without analogue coverage or households in these areas that are watching television via satellite or other television reception methods are not within the scope of the project. Thus, the implementation areas are areas where people receive analogue television from the main broadcasting station and areas where people receive terrestrial analogue television rebroadcasts.

Terrestrial television transmission and broadcasting will be carried out by radio and television transmission units. Currently, Vietnam Television and VTC Digital Television have covered a part of Nghe An province with terrestrial digital television from the main broadcasting stations at Thien Tuong Mountain, Ha Tinh province to transmit VTV, VTC and Nghe An television channels (NTV). Nghe An Radio and Television Station will select a broadcasting transmission enterprise and broadcast television channels serving the local political tasks and essential information and propaganda to broadcast without encryption on the transmission infrastructure before December 30, 2018.

To support people in the process of converting from analog to digital television, the State has issued regulations to support digital terrestrial television receivers for poor and near-poor households. The Ministry of Information and Communications will support digital satellite television receivers for poor and near-poor households that meet the conditions in the coverage area of ​​analog terrestrial television rebroadcast stations. Each poor and near-poor household will be supported by the State with 1 digital terrestrial or satellite television receiver with a suitable receiving antenna and a connecting cable with a maximum length of 15 meters (for outdoor reception mode), fully installed and warranted for at least 12 months from the date the household receives the digital television receiver. From now until December 31, 2018, poor and near-poor households will be supported by the State with procedures to support digital television receivers to watch television.

According to the survey report of TNS Media Vietnam Company in 2016, in the Central region, the rate of households with television sets using the method of receiving terrestrial television by antenna is mainly, the rate of households receiving digital television via satellite (DTH) in the Central region is 34%, the rate of households receiving analog television is 13%. Nghe An Department of Information and Communications coordinates with relevant units to determine the coverage area of ​​digital terrestrial television, determine the areas to convert analog terrestrial television to digital television via satellite (DTH), make a list of poor and near-poor households in need of support for digital television receivers. Provide information and propaganda on digital terrestrial television so that people know the benefits, conversion plans, and implementation areas before the time of stopping broadcasting analog television. In addition, based on the capacity of the local budget, decide to support digital television receivers for social policy subjects with difficult conditions not included in the project.

Nghe An is a province with a large area, complex terrain, and mountains, affecting the deployment of television transmission infrastructure and the installation of receivers for each household in large numbers and on a wide scale. This is truly a difficult stage in implementing the terrestrial television digitization project in Nghe An province.