Digital television transition

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The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover, the analog switch-off (ASO), or the analog shutdown, is the process in which older 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 television. Begun by some countries around 2006, this is an involved process because the existing analog television receivers owned by viewers cannot receive digital broadcasts; viewers must either purchase new digital TVs, or converter boxes which change the digital signal to an analog signal which can be viewed on the old TV.

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 process is being accomplished on different schedules in different countries; 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.

Video Digital television transition

Timeline

• 2006: Luxembourg (terrestrial), Netherlands
• 2007: Andorra, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland
• 2008: Germany
• 2009: Denmark, Isle of Man, Norway, United States (full power stations)
• 2010: Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Guernsey, Jersey, Latvia, Luxembourg (cable television and satellite), San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom (Wales)
• 2011: Austria, Canada (major markets), Cyprus, France, Israel, Japan (except earthquake-affected prefectures), Malta, Monaco, Turkey, United Kingdom (Scotland)
• 2012: Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan (Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi Prefectures), Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom (England and Northern Ireland)
• 2013: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Republic of Macedonia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Zimbabwe
• 2014: Serbia, Iceland, Namibia, Algeria
• 2015: Belarus, Brunei, Greece, India, Iran, Morocco, Romania (phase 1), Rwanda, Turkey, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana
• 2016: Bermuda, Brazil (Federal District and the city of Rio Verde, Goiás), Mexico, Mongolia, Laos, Ukraine, Chile, China (CCTV), Burundi
• 2017: Bolivia, Brazil (a few metropolitan areas, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, among others), Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines (Light Network), Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand (NBT), Romania (phase 2)
• 2018: Brazil (major markets, including all markets in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo states), Costa Rica, Moldova, El Salvador, Malaysia, Thailand (Channel 5, BBTV Channel 7, Channel 9 MCOT HD, Thai PBS), Singapore, Ukraine
• 2019: Argentina, Bolivia, Russia
• 2020: Panama, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Vietnam, Thailand (Channel 3)
• 2021: Dominican Republic
• 2023: Brazil (other markets), Cuba, India, Philippines (remaining 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. The European Commission has recommended that digital switchover should be completed by 1 January 2012 - Commission Recommendation 2009/848/EC, of 28 October 2009.

Maps Digital television transition

Digital switchover at a glance

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Transitions around the world

Transitions completed

Africa

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

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. 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.
•  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. 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.
•  Mexico: Digital broadcasts commenced in 2000, with the first being Tijuana's XETV - an English-language television station that primarily served San Diego, California between the 1960s and the early 2010s. Analog shutdown was originally scheduled to occur in 2021, but on Thursday, 2 September 2010, Mexican government advanced the analog shutdown from 2021 to 2015. 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, 28 May 2013 in Tijuana, but was postponed to 18 July due to the 2013 Baja California state elections. The switchover was completed nationwide on 31 December 2015, when all remaining analog television stations left the air. There does however remain a very small number of community-based transmitters, which had to switch off before 31 December 2015. Mexico then instituted a nationwide remapping of network stations in late 2015 requiring most of them to map to the channel number in either Mexico City, or for regional networks, the main metro area served by the network's flagship station.
•  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. Having moved the deadline from 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 12 June 2009, with the exception of low-power stations, and "nightlight" stations which broadcast PSAs on the transition until 12 July 2009. Television transmission on channels 52 to 69 was required to cease by Saturday, 31 December 2011, to allow the FCC to commence with the first phase of spectrum reallocation for other services. Class A low-power stations were required to transition by 1 September 2015. The deadline for low-power and translator stations was suspended on 24 April 2015, due to concerns that the upcoming spectrum auction could "potentially displace a significant number of LPTV and TV translator stations", and would "[require] analog stations to incur the costs of transitioning to digital before completion of the auction and repacking process".
•  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 was completed on Friday, 1 September 2017.

Asia

•  Cambodia launched DVB-T2 on Tuesday, 9 November 2010, however as at 23 December 2017 the only FTA DVB-T channels appear to be pay TV channels that the provider has erroneously neglected to encrypt. The incumbent FTA channels have thus far not provided DVB-T broadcasts.
•  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.

•  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. Analog high-definition television broadcasting ended on Sunday, 30 September 2007. 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. 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 Kant? 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).
•  South Korea: Digital switchover progressed region-by-region, with the first analog transmitters in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province ending transmissions on Wednesday, 1 September 2010. Digital switchover was completed on Monday, 31 December 2012, when the last analog transmitters in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon ended transmissions. A few border analog transmitters targeting North Korea were switched off in June 2015.
•  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).
•  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).
•  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.
•  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).

Europe

•  Albania: Analog broadcasts were switched off on 17 June 2015.
•  Andorra completed its switch-off on Tuesday 25 September 2007.
•  Armenia: Has shut down analog signals on 10 July 2015.
•  Austria: Began analog switch-off on Monday, 5 March 2007, progressing from the west to the east. The analog broadcast was shut down nationwide at the end of 2010 regarding the main transmitters. The last analog translators were switched off on 7 June 2011.
•  Azerbaijan: Began analog switch-off on Sunday, 17 October 2010, completed on 17 June 2015.
•  Belarus: Analogue broadcasting was disabled 15 May 2015 in UHF band and 16 June 2015 in the VHF band (channels 6-12). The final analogue switch-off occurred at the end of 2015.
•  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.
•  Bulgaria: The analog signal was officially terminated on Monday, 30 September 2013.

•  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.
•  Cyprus terminated all analog transmissions on Thursday 30 June 2011 and moved to digital-only transmissions in MPEG-4 on Friday 1 July 2011.
•  Czech Republic: The last analog retransmitters in the south-east Moravia and the northern Moravia - Silesia were switched off on Saturday, 30 June 2012.
•  Denmark switched off all terrestrial analog services at midnight on Sunday 1 November 2009. Analogue cable was switched off on 9 February 2016.
•  Estonia's analog television was switched off completely on Thursday, 1 July 2010.

•  Finland ceased analog terrestrial transmissions nationwide at 04:00, Saturday, 1 September 2007 (the switch-off was previously planned for midnight on 1 September 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.
•  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.
•  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. The cable TV provider Unitymedia switched off analog cable on 27 June 2017.
•  Georgia: Analog broadcasts should have been switched off 17 June 2015, but due to the flooding in Tbilisi, which occurred on the night of 13 to 14 June 2015 analogue switch-off happened on 1 July 2015.
•  Greece: The analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated on Friday, 6 February 2015.
•  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.
•  Ireland: Digital television was launched in Ireland as Saorview on Friday 29 October 2010. At launch it had 5 standard-definition channels and 1 high-definition channel. The analog service was terminated on Wednesday 24 October 2012 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. There has been no date released for the shutdown of analog cable, and many major cable companies (e.g. Virgin Media 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.
•  Israel started digital transmissions in MPEG-4 on Sunday 2 August 2009 and analog transmissions ended on Thursday 31 March 2011.
•  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.
•  Kosovo (partially recognized state): Has shutdown analog signals on 17 June 2015.
•  Latvia's analog television completely converted to digital broadcasting on Tuesday 1 June 2010.
•  Lithuania: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Monday, 29 October 2012.
•  Luxembourg shut down their last analog transmitter on UHF Channel 21 on Friday 31 December 2010.
•  Macedonia: Analog transmissions were terminated on Saturday, 1 June 2013.
•  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.
•  Monaco switched off their analog TV broadcasts on Tuesday 24 May 2011.
•  Montenegro: Has shut down analog signals on 17 June 2015.
•  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.
•  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.
•  Poland: The switch-off of the analog terrestrial transmissions was completed on Tuesday, 23 July 2013.
•  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.
•  San Marino completed its switch-off on Thursday 2 December 2010.
•  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 ?umadija and Western Serbia and the southern city of Ni?. Digital TV switchover for 98% of citizens started on 1 September 2014. Transition progressed in six stages. First switchoff took place in Vr?ac on 15 April 2015. Last switchoff took place on 7 June 2015.
•  Slovakia: Slovakia finished analog transmission broadcasts on Monday, 31 December 2012.
•  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.

•  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.
•  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. 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 had switched to digital. Analog cable was switched off on 1 January 2017.
•  Turkey launched trial digital transmissions in 2006 and originally planned to gradually handle the switchover. The completion date was late 2015.
•  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, 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 and the last region to switch off its analog signals was Northern Ireland on Wednesday 24 October 2012. 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. Analog transmissions ceased in  Gibraltar in December 2012,  Isle of Man switched off all analog services on Thursday 16 July 2009, while  Jersey and  Guernsey switched off their analog signals on Wednesday 17 November 2010.

Oceania

•  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. 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.
•  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.

Transitions in progress

Africa

•  Botswana began digital broadcasts in 2008, using ISDB-T.
•  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.
•  Mozambique began transitioning to DVB-T2 in 2013.
•  Nigeria
•  South Africa
•  Tunisia

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: The President of the Authority for the Regulation and Control of Telecommunications and Transport (ATT), Roy Méndez, said that in November 2019, the analogue switch-off will take place in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
•  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. Digital broadcasts were phased into the other 23 state capitals in the following years, and to the remaining cities by Tuesday 31 December 2013. The country started on 15 February 2016 in Rio Verde, Goiás as a pilot experiment, followed by the Federal District and main cities and metropolitan regions from 26 October 2016 to 31 December 2023, when it is expected the ending of all analog television broadcasting.
•  Chile: The transition to digital started in 2012, and will be switched off in 2020.
•  Colombia: The government planned to close down analog broadcast on 31 December 2019.
•  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. However, INDOTEL, a telecommunications department of the Dominican Government, postponed it to 9 August 2021.
•  El Salvador: The target date is 31 December 2018.
•  Panama
•  Peru: Digital television broadcasts started in Lima in March 2010, and analog broadcasts are scheduled to be terminated on 30 September 2020 as a Peruvian Master Plan.
•  Uruguay
•  Venezuela

Asia

•  Hong Kong's The original digital switchover plan was supposed to take place in 2012. The plan has been postponed by the end of 2020.
•  India: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has set the deadlines for the completion of Phase I (Metro cities) by 31 December 2019, Phase II (cities having a population of more than one million) by 31 December 2021, and Phase III (the rest of India) by 31 December 2023.
•  Indonesia: Salwa Mahira said, analog switch-off took place in four stages. The first phase of analog switch-off will be started on 23 October 2017. Analog broadcasting will be completely turned off 31 December 2017 at 12:00 WIB. The shut down of analog cable television last analog transmitters in Jakarta and Medan end transmissions. Analog broadcasting will be completely turned off 15 February 2018 at 12:00 WIT. The shut down of analog cable television last analog transmitters in Ambon and Jayapura end transmissions. Digital terrestrial television was launched on 13 August 2008 (DVB-T) and 16 October 2012 (DVB-T2).
•  Malaysia: The first DTTB services were rolled out on 16 January 2014, starting 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.. The official launch of digital broadcasts happened on 6 June 2017 by prime minister. Digital switchover is scheduled to be completed by 30 June 2018.
•  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 and should be expected that all analog broadcasts will be shut off in 2023. ZOE Broadcasting Network's DZOZ-TV became the first station in the country to permanently cease analog terrestrial operations on 28 February 2017, signaling the start of the country's transition to digital-only broadcasting. Digital television in the Philippines uses the Japanese ISDB standards for its terrestrial broadcast.
•  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.On November 6, 2017, IMDB announced that it had further extended their analogue broadcasting till December 31, 2018, in order to facilitate more time for Singapore households to switch to digital TV as soon as possible. On the same day, an "Analogue" watermark is placed bottom to the channel logos to differentiate televisions using analogue broadcast.
•  Thailand launched digital terrestrial television in May 2014 after postponing it for 12 years. Analog signals will be switched off will start in 2017 for some channels and will be completed in 2020.
•  Vietnam: The country launched DVB-T unofficially in 1997, and shut down all analog signals on 28 May 2014

Europe

•  Romania: Dragos Tudorache, the country's acting minister of communications, has announced that the government will very soon adopt an ordinance putting back analogue switchoff still further. It adds that the reason for this is that many residents in rural parts of Romania have insufficient funds to buy digital reception equipment. As a result, proposals to introduce subsidies to purchase such equipment are now being discussed by the authorities.Currently over one million Romanians, especially in rural areas, receive TVR and some private TV channels through simple antennas mounted on houses and without paying a subscription for cable or satellite. Analogue signals for these channels are distributed by the National Broadcasting Company (SNR).Romania has one of the highest pay-TV penetration rates in Europe, with over 90% of homes receiving cable or satellite TV services.
•  Moldova: Will shut down analog signals in 2018.
•  Russia: The deadline for analog switch-off signal is in 2019.
•  Ukraine: Digital switchover will be completed by 30 June 2018.

Transitions not yet started

Africa

•  Togo Transition in Togo is being planned. Broadcasting equipment manufacturer Harris Corporation is helping to transition Togo to DVB-T2.

Americas

•  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.
•  Trinidad and Tobago estimated to be completed by 2020 but as of July 31st 2017 no terrestrial TV station has switched to digital broadcasting yet.

Asia

•  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. There is no deadline yet for converting analog signals to digital.
•  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.

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 re-established 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.

Transition progress unknown

•  Abkhazia
•  Afghanistan
•  American Samoa
•  Anguilla
•  Antarctica
•  Antigua and Barbuda
•  Artsakh
•  Aruba
•  Ascension Island
•  Ashmore and Cartier Islands
•  Bahamas
•  Bahrain
•  Bangladesh
•  Barbados
•  Belize
•  Benin
•  Bhutan
•  British Virgin Islands
•  British Indian Ocean Territory
•  Burkina Faso
•  Burundi
•  Cameroon
•  Cape Verde
•  Cayman Islands
•  Chad
•  Comoros
•  Republic of the Congo
•  Democratic Republic of the Congo
•  Cook Islands
•  Crimea
•  Curacao
•  Djibouti
•  Dominica
•  Easter Island
•  Ecuador
•  Egypt
•  Equatorial Guinea
•  Eritrea
•  Falkland Islands
•  Faroe Islands
•  Fiji
•  French Polynesia
•  Gambia
•  Grenada
•  Greenland
•  Guam
•  Guatemala
•  Guinea
•  Guinea-Bissau
•  Guyana
•  Haiti
•  Honduras
•  Iraq
•  Ivory Coast
•  Jamaica
•  Jordan
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kiribati
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Lesotho
•  Liberia
•  Libya
•  Liechtenstein
•  Macau
•  Madagascar
•  Malawi
•  Maldives
•  Mali
•  Marshall Islands
•  Mauritania
•  Micronesia
•  Montserrat
•  Mozambique
•  Nauru
•  New Caledonia
•  Nicaragua
•  Niger
•  Nigeria
•  Niue
•  Northern Cyprus
•  Northern Mariana Islands
•  Oman
•  Pakistan
•  Palau
•  Palestine
•  Papua New Guinea
•  Pitcairn Islands
•  Puerto Rico
•  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
•  Saint Kitts and Nevis
•  Saint Helena
•  Saint Lucia
•  Saint Martin
•  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
•  Samoa
•  Sao Tome and Principe
•  Senegal
•  Seychelles
•  Sierra Leone
•  Sint Maarten
•  Solomon Islands
•  Somalia
•  Somaliland
•  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
•  South Ossetia
•  South Sudan
•  Sri Lanka
•  Sudan
•  Suriname
•  Swaziland
•  Tajikistan
•  Timor Leste
•  Tokelau
•  Tonga
•  Transnistria
•  Tristan da Cunha
•  Tunisia
•  Turkmenistan
•  Turks and Caicos Islands
•  Tuvalu
•  Uzbekistan
•  Vanuatu
•   Vatican City
•  U.S. Virgin Islands
•  Yemen
•  Zimbabwe

src: c8.alamy.com

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. 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.

src: i.ebayimg.com

See also

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

src: www.iteam.upv.es

References

src: www.sleekstain.com

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. 

src: i.ytimg.com

External links

• 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)

Source of article : Wikipedia