According to a report in The National today, the UAE will switch off its analogue television network by 2013 and pave the way for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in the country. The new channels, which will be similar to the ‘Freeview’ digital stations in the UK, will require an aerial and decoder box to watch. […]
According to a report in The National today, the UAE will switch off its analogue television network by 2013 and pave the way for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in the country.
The new channels, which will be similar to the ‘Freeview’ digital stations in the UK, will require an aerial and decoder box to watch. Other services could include pay-per-view and mobile video-on-demand.
Current frequencies used for analogue terrestrial stations will be used for a new fourth-generation (4G) mobile network, the report stated.
Mohammed Al Ghanim, the director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is reported to have said that digital broadcasting will bring greater benefits including quality, efficiency, mobility and the ability to provide a better multimedia transmission.
Presently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the GCC that has a fairly extensive DTT network. Last month, BroadcastPro ME carried a comment piece from Dr. Riyadh Najm, deputy minister of engineering in Saudi Arabia, on why DTT was the only viable option for the Kingdom, where the authorities had to have a balance between social obligations and providing a wide variety of entertainment to people in the farthest corners of the Kingdom.
Although other countries like Oman and Jordan have been exploring the potential of laying out the infrastructure for DTT, the UAE has previously never expressed the need for DTT owing to extensive satellite penetration in the country.
