List of digital television deployments by country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The transition to digital television is a process that follows different paces around the world. Although digital satellite television is now commonplace and will soon render analogue satellite broadcasts obsolete, the switch to digital cable and terrestrial has taken longer.
This is a list of the situation in many countries and/or areas.
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[edit] Africa
[edit] Namibia
While Namibia's public broadcasters still rely on analogue transmission and have not announced a transition date to digital television, the pay-TV operator Multichoice already operates a digital television service using the DVB-T standard. Reaching approximately 3 000 subscribers, the transition occurred on 18 February 2005 without the use of a dual-illumination period due to the lack of spare frequencies.
[edit] South Africa
The first digital television implementation in South Africa was a satellite-based system launched by pay-TV operator Multichoice in 1995. On 22 February 2007 the South African government announced that the country's public TV operators would be broadcasting in digital by 1 November 2008, followed by a three year dual-illumination period which would end on 1 November 2011.
[edit] Asia
[edit] Hong Kong, SAR of China
Due to the city's cramped living conditions, flat panel widescreen TV monitors are very popular in Hong Kong. Many people enjoy widescreen DVD movies on their TVs despite the lack of HD broadcasts. While the local authorities have flagged end-2006 as the deadline for a decision to be made on which HDTV standard Hong Kong will adopt, there are political and business considerations. The mainland Chinese government will likely want to be able to jam TV signals from Hong Kong, so that Chinese citizens near the border cannot receive uncensored content from Hong Kong. Currently, analog TV signals from Hong Kong are delayed a few seconds before being relayed inland, such that content on banned topics such as Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 can be blocked. By the same token, Hong Kong broadcasters are keen to use whichever standard China adopts, since doing so would allow them to transmit into the lucrative Southern China market and would lessen the need for costly format conversion.
[edit] Japan
Japan pioneered HDTV for decades with an analog implementation. The old system is not compatible with the new digital standards. Japanese terrestrial broadcasting of HD via ISDB-T started in December 1, 2003 in the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya metropolitan areas of Japan. It has been reported that two million HD receivers have been sold in Japan already.
The Japanese government is studying the implementation of some improvements on the standard as suggested by Brazilian researchers (SBTVD). These new features are unlikely to be adopted in Japan due to incompatibility problems, but are being considered for use in future implementations in other countries, including Brazil itself.[1]
Analog terrestrial television broadcasts in Japan are scheduled to cease on July 24, 2011 according to the current Japanese broadcasting law. However, the move to DTV by consumers is relatively slow, partly because HD TVs are very expensive. Additionally there have been issues with the B-CAS system and Digital Rights Management in respect to the home recording of broadcasts.
[edit] South Korea (Republic of Korea)
After a long controversy between the government and broadcasters, ATSC was chosen over DVB-T. From 2005, digital services are available across the entire country.
At least 10 hours of HD content are required to be broadcast on a weekly basis during the first year of commercial digital service.
[edit] Malaysia
The first digital television service in Malaysia was launched by satellite based pay-TV operator ASTRO launched in 1996. Starting from September 2006, the Malaysian national broadcaster RTM began its trial Digital Terestrial Digital Television (DDTV) service for six months to selected 2,000 households in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and some surrounding areas. From the trial service, RTM intends to access viewers' response of the new service.
The trial DDTV service will offer its current 2 analogue TV channels i.e. RTM1 & RTM2 in digital and 2 new digital TV only channels namely RTMi (covering drama, music, news/current affairs and sports) and Music Active (all music). RTMi will be broadcasting from 7pm to midnight daily while Music Active will be from 9am to midnight. Also provided under the service are 7 of its FM radio stations in digital audio and a host of interactive services. Nationwide implementation is planned to begin by the year 2007 or 2008.
The Malaysian government has proposed to shut down all analogue television services in the country by the year 2015, planned to begin in 2008.
All the above digital television services are in standard definition and currently there are no announced plans by either ASTRO or RTM for HDTV service.
[edit] Philippines
Philippine television-broadcast giant ABS-CBN has recently applied for the digital television-terrestrial service (DTT) license to the National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines that will switch off its analog broadcast programming (Channel 2 Manila) set-up as early as 2010. ABS-CBN said the proposed conversion of DWWX-TV station from analog to digital broadcast is being undertaken to assist the Philippine government’s initiative to effect transition of television broadcast stations from analog to digital transmissions, “at the earliest time practicable.” ABS-CBN has recently been experimenting the transmission of digital signals on Channel 51.
Also, the Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC-5) have also expressed their intention of switching its current analog television broadcast set-up (DWET-TV 5). They are testing DVB-H on channel 47.
However, local broadcast outfits themselves together with the private sector are still studying whether or not the Philippines can catch up with the timetable set by the International Telecommunications Union that broadcast companies worldwide should switch off analog broadcast programming by 2010.
Recently, the Philippines will use and eventually adopt the European standard DVB-T for terrestrial transmissions. After the shutdown of analog television (which is scheduled by the end of 2015), the European standard for digital will replace the current (U.S.) standard for analog, NTSC. [2]
Another big media outfit GMA Network will also plan to test DVB-H in Manila, as demand for content in mobile phones increase.
[edit] Singapore
On Wednesday, May 31, 2006, Singapore kicked off the HDTV trials officially. Two Singaporean broadcasters were involved, Mediacorp (broadcasting HD in DVB-T) and Starhub CableVision (DVB-C). Both broadcast in 1080i, but at 50 Hz, inline with the traditional PAL frequency Singapore uses. Triallists were selected from applicants who had applied prior to May 31, 2006, and there are a total of 1,000 participants on the trial. These trials will end at the end of the year. Presumably then or before that, Starhub and Mediacorp will open it up to all subscribers to receive HD.
[edit] Taiwan (Republic of China)
Digital television launched terrestrially throughout Taiwan on July 2, 2004. Currently, there are simulcasts of analogue and digital television. Taiwan plans to replace analog broadcasting with a digital system by 2008. Analog signals are to be completely phased out by 2010. The ROC Cabinet approved a measure mandating that new televisions are to be equipped with a digital television tuner starting 2006. The rule will apply to TVs measuring between 21 and 29 inches in 2007, and to sets of all sizes in 2008, the Cabinet said in a statement. To assist lower income families with the switch to digital television, the ROC government plans to provide NT$300 million in aid to purchase converters or for the purchase of new digital televisions.[3]
[edit] Australia
[edit] Europe
[edit] Croatia
Croatian Television (HTV) have started to transmit DVB-S program in 1997. It transmits all three state-owned TV channel (HTV1, HTV2, HTV3 (which is now sold and today is broadcasting HRT Plus instead)), and three radio stations (HR1, HR2 and HR3). Now, sattelite link is maintaned by the Croatian telecomunication company Odašiljači i veze.
The Croatia started to test DVB-T transmission early in 2001. It transmitts 4 national TV channels (two state-owned) (HTV1, HTV2, RTL Televizija, Nova TV). Till 2007 Croatian national telecomunication company Odašiljači i veze built network of 9 transmitters and covering about 70 % of terittory. It plans to close down analogue broadcasting in year 2010.
The HDTV broadcasting over DVB-T is experimentaly started at March 2007, at one transmitter in Zagreb
[edit] United Kingdom & Ireland
The United Kingdom now has four major forms of broadcast digital television, a direct-to-home satellite service provided by British Sky Broadcasting (commonly known as Sky), digital cable television services provided by Virgin Media, and WightCable and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition a IPTV system known as BT Vision is provided by BT. Access to each of these systems will depend on what is available in your area. For most UK viewers, Sky or Virgin Media cable are the only sources of HDTV broadcast available and both come at a price over and above their standard TV packages. Alternate sources of HD content include games consoles (XBox 360 and PS3), as well as Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks.
[edit] Terrestrial
The initial attempt at launching a digital terrestrial broadcasting service, ONdigital (later called ITV Digital), was unsuccessful and the company went into liquidation. Some observers have argued that this failure stemmed from the Government's eagerness in having sold off too much TV spectrum to launch Channel 5 (the last UK terrestrial analogue channel), and ONdigital's short-sightedness in over-extending its use of available bandwidth: using poor signal encoding to maintain compatibility with early set-top boxes, optimising their broadcasts for capacity rather than reliability, and cramming too many channels into the available bandwidth.
ITV Digital was replaced in late 2002 by Freeview, which uses the same DVB-T technology, but with higher levels of error correction and more robust (but lower-capacity) modulation on the "Public Service" multiplexes in an attempt to counter the reception problems which dogged its predecessor. Rather than concentrating on Pay TV services, Freeview uses the available capacity to provide a free-to-air service that includes all the existing five free-to-air analogue terrestrial channels and about twenty new digital channels. All services are transmitted in SDTV mode.
March 31, 2004 saw the return of a limited pay-television offering to the digital terrestrial platform with the launch of Top Up TV. This new service is designed to appeal to those who do not want to pay the high subscription fees that Sky Television and the Cable networks demand. The service carries a restricted hours service of some of the UK’s most watched channels including the Discovery Channel, UKTV Gold, Discovery Real Time, British Eurosport and Cartoon Network, sharing just three different slots. In October 2006, Top Up TV renamed itself Top Up TV Anytime, taking advantage of the increase in the popularity of PVRs, and its limited channel space. Now over 100 programs (not channel) are broadcast overnight and added to the boxes hard drive, so that it may be watched at any time. Channels that provides content for the overnight service include MTV, Nickelodeon and Hallmark Channel.
2005 saw the first areas of the United Kingdom losing their analogue signal in a pilot test. The residents of Ferryside and Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire, Wales who had not already upgraded to digital television were given a free set-top box to receive the Freeview television service, which includes Channel 4 (previously unavailable terrestrially from transmitters in Wales) and S4C~2, which broadcasts sessions of the National Assembly for Wales. Digital transmissions for this pilot commenced in December 2004, at which time a message was added to the analogue picture advising viewers that the analogue services would end in February 2005. If the pilot is a success it will have paved the way for switch-over to digital television signals throughout the United Kingdom by the Government's unofficial deadline of 2012.
The year 2005 also saw the announcement by Ofcom about the proposed analogue switch off plans for the UK. It is proposed that the switch off will progress on an ITV region by region basis starting in 2008 starting in the Border Television region and ending in the Channel Television region in 2012. The coverage of the 3 public service broadcasting multiplexes will be the same as that enjoyed by the current analogue TV stations (98.5% of the population), while the 3 commercial multiplexes will eventually cover 90% of the population. One transmitter, Sandale will be removed from service, with nearby Caldbeck carrying the both English and Scottish versions
Long standing interference issues in the Meridian and Anglia franchise areas require a small number of new transmitters will be brought into service when those regions are converted in 2010 and 2011.[citation needed]
See Digital switchover in the United Kingdom
[edit] Freeview HD
The BBC already produces some programs (documentaries and drama) in HD for a service on digital satellite[4], and foreign markets, such as the USA and Japan. The corporation intends to produce all its programmes in HD by the year 2010, and to broadcast all of its channels in HD "as soon as practical".[5]
There are no immediate launch plans for HDTV versions of the Freeview and Top Up TV digital terrestrial television services, because there is no spare bandwidth available nationally. This may change after the UK's analogue television signals are switched off (currently scheduled to take place on a regional basis between 2008 and 2012). However no special provision is being made by Ofcom for HDTV, and broadcasters will have to bid against other uses for the frequencies during the Digital Dividend Review.
The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five ran terrestrial HDTV trials involving 450 homes in the London area during June-December 2006 on locally unused frequencies [6]. As part of this trial, the BBC is already broadcasting BBC HD which is free to air but cannot be received by any set-top boxes currently commercially available. It can however be received and played back by a PC equipped with a DVB-t card that is within range (as the broadcast is not encrypted) using a software h264 decoder.
[edit] Cable
Trials of the UK's first HDTV service began on 2 December 2005. Telewest, a cable TV company now known as Virgin Media, distributed HDTV programs to 400 customers in the south London area. On 10 March 2006 NTL confirmed that HDTV was available nationally in the former Telewest areas. The service is provided via a personal video recorder, branded as TV Drive, and costs GBP 10 per month on top of Telewest's top TV package, or GBP 15 per month on top of lower tiers.WightCable also provide cable television to the residents of the Isle of Wight.
[edit] Satellite
On November 1, 2005 ITV turned off encryption on all of its satellite based signals, following the lead from the BBC. These transmissions are on a limited spotbeam which is aimed primarily towards the United Kingdom, via the Astra 2D satellite located at 28.2 degrees east. This theoretical limits reception to the UK, Ireland and Iceland, allowing ITV to fulfill licensing agreements with content producers. However, many people report successful reception of these signals from across Europe by using larger dishes.
Details on tuning all Free-To-Air BBC and ITV stations, including a how-to for the Sky Digibox are available here [7][8].
Sky HD is offered by BSkyB in both the United Kingdom and Ireland as an add-on to their existing Sky Digital subscription service. The BBC is broadcasting BBC HD as a free to air channel from the Astra 2D satellite, and the channel can be viewed for free with suitable satellite reception equipment. There are additional equipment and subscription charges for HD from Sky TV but they are broadcasting an increasing number of channels in the HD format. Sky also offers a free-to-air version of its regular Sky Digital service known as Freesat from Sky.
On 12 July, 2006, the BBC and ITV announced a free-to-air satellite service as a competitor to Freesat from Sky, to be temporarily called Freesat. [9] It will be available around Autumn 2007. [10] The service will cover all BBC and ITV digital TV channels, plus interactive services, radio channels, and other channels. It is being touted as the satellite equivalent to Freeview, especially for areas unable to receive the Freeview DTT service. [11]. However, the purchase of 17.9% of ITV by BSkyB in December 2006 may see this project cancelled.
The Freesat from Sky service provides a non-subscription card for public service broadcast channels Channel 4 and five, however Film4, Film4+1 are free-to-air.
[edit] New Zealand
In New Zealand, digital television is confined to Sky's satellite service (available nationwide) and TelstraClear's cable service (available in Wellington and Christchurch). A free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite service called FreeView will be launched in 2007.
[edit] North America
[edit] Canada
The CRTC has adopted the same digital television standard for Canadian stations as the United States. The CRTC decided not to enforce a single date for transitioning to digital broadcasts, opting to let the economy decide when the switchover will occur.
CITY Toronto was the first Canadian station to provide digital terrestrial service. As of 2005, other digital stations on-air included the CBC and Radio-Canada stations in Toronto and Montreal, as well as CTV's CFTO Toronto and CIVT Vancouver, and CKXT (SUN TV). This list is not necessarily exhaustive and other station launches are pending, although all are in the major markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Also, this does not include digital or high definition versions of specialty services.
In Canada, on November 22, 2003, CBC had their first broadcast in HD, in the form of the Heritage Classic outdoor NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. Bell ExpressVu, a Canadian satellite company, Rogers Cable and Videotron provide somewhat more than 21 HDTV channels to their subscribers including TSN HD, SportsNet HD, Discovery HD (Canadian Edition), The Movie Network HD, and several U.S. stations plus some PBS feeds and a couple of pay-TV movie channels. CTV Toronto broadcast in HD along with its western counterpart, BC CTV. They were also the first to broadcast a terrestrial HD digital ATSC signal in Canada. Global joined the crowd in late 2004. Other networks are continuing to announce availability of HD signals. CHUM Limited's Citytv in Toronto was the first HDTV broadcaster in Canada; however, now most cable and satellite subscribers across Canada can access multiple channels in HDTV with major American and Canadian affiliate stations broadcasting HDTV signals with no CANCON overlay for advertising. Typically these channels are NBC HD, ABC HD, CBS HD, FOX HD, TSN HD, Sportsnet HD, CBC HD etc. as of Summer 2006. CBC HD officially launched their HDTV programming on March 5, 2005. CBC HD broadcasts the first game of their Hockey Night In Canada Saturday double header in HDTV. The 2006 NHL Playoff games have seen an increased amount of HDTV coverage as well. StarChoice, another Canadian satellite provider, currently offers its subscribers 14 HDTV channels at no extra cost. Shaw Cable has found limited success with HDTV implementation since the cost of a HD PVR is near the $650 CAD mark. Monthly rentals for this equipment have helped HDTV adoption rates.
[edit] Mexico
Mexican television company Televisa made experimental HDTV broadcasts in the early-1990s, in collaboration with Japan's NHK. Some events now broadcast in high definition.
During the first half of 2005, at least one cable provider in Mexico City (Cablevision) has begun to offer 5 HDTV channels to subscribers purchasing a digital video recorder (DVR).
In 2005, TV Azteca signed a deal with Harris Corporation's broadcast communications division for digital TV transmitters and HDTV encoding equipment to bring high-definition TV to nine Mexican cities.
The launch will be carried out in two phases. By the third quarter of 2006, HDTV transmissions will be available in Mexico's largest markets: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Phase Two of the national rollout will bring HDTV services to six cities along the Mexico-U.S. border (Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali and Tijuana) through the first half of 2006. This rollout takes advantage of HDTV receivers already in place thanks to an earlier HDTV rollout by stations on the American side of the border.
Also, TV Azteca has planned to broadcast the Mexican football tournament in HDTV. And almost all retailers have started shipping televisions with HDTV tuners.
XETV in Tijuana, Baja California - across the border from San Diego, California - is on the air in HDTV using 720p format. This affiliate of the American Fox TV Network is on UHF channel 23 broadcasting from Mt. San Antonio in Tijuana, Mexico with 403,000 watts, directed primarily northward at San Diego. In January 2006, Televisa's XEFB-TV and Multimedios' XHAW-TV in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon began HDTV transmissions on UHF channels 48 and 50, respectively. In February 2006, Televisa's XHUAA in Tijuana began its HDTV transmissions on channel 20. Unfortunately they have no HDTV programs. Channel 20 broadcasts an upconverted version of the programs of XHUAA's analog signal on channel 57. In Guadalajara, Televisa channels 2 (XHGA HD),4 (XHG HD) and 9 (XEWO HD) are available in 1080i format, TV Azteca channels 31 and 33 broadcast in 480i format.
[edit] Guatemala
The broadcast started at the beginning of the 2006 FIFA World Cup on ATSC standard and channel 3 and 7, on HD on 17 & 19.
[edit] United States
In the United States, digital television specifications are defined by the ATSC. There are many ways to obtain it - via cable or satellite TV (through providers like Cox, Comcast, and DISH Network, among others), or via free-to-air terrestrial television.
[edit] Current standards
Currently, there are four main varieties of digital television, as defined by the ATSC standard used by the US. The pinnacle of digital television is HD, using either the 720p or 1080i standards. However, because of the way the ATSC standard is structured, the HD channels are in practice one huge subchannel. Thus, for broadcasters who want to broadcast additional channels, standard-definition (480i, to maintain compatibility with existing NTSC sets) and so-called "enhanced-definition" television (480p, about the same quality as current DVDs) are used.
A digital television set (as sold in the US) usually uses a 16:9 aspect ratio display with an integrated ATSC tuner. Lower-resolution sources like regular DVDs may be upscaled to the native resolution of the TV. However, in the industry there is a push for HDTV, even though many stations are offering services in SDTV.
[edit] Cable and satellite
Currently, most Americans get their digital television via cable or satellite. The regular digital cable/satellite service normally uses 480p. Most providers are providing content in HD, mainly either using the DVB standard (DVB-S/-C) or via Digicipher II.
[edit] Terrestrial
[edit] Recent developments
It is estimated that by the end of 2006, 10% of American TVs will be HDTVs, but in the same survey, 83% of Americans are not satisfied with the HDTV they are getting. It is estimated that by the end of 2010, 59% of American TVs will be HDTVs. 50 channels will be broadcast in HD.
While many in the industry wanted a flexible or delayed deadline, FCC attempted to force the issue (at the behest of Congress, which wants to reclaim the spectrum for emergency services, as well as to conduct the auction of frequencies 76-88 MHz and old analog channels 60 to 69, as well channels 52 to 59 in the near future), by mandating DTV tuners be phased in to all new TV sets, beginning with the largest. Many dates were proposed, but Congress finally fixed February 17th, 2009, in law as the maximum end date for analog television authorizations. [2] Because this date comes after the NCAA's Bowl Championship Series and the NFL's Super Bowl XLIII, there will be less of a chance of an acute hardware shortage from people waiting until the last minute to purchase an ATSC tuner than there would have been with a January 1 cutoff. The original deadline of January 1, 2006 was abolished when it was realized that TV stations and customers would not be able to meet the earlier deadline.
[edit] South America
[edit] Argentina
Argentina officially chose ATSC in 1998, and has been conducting experimental ATSC broadcasts since 1999. The governments of Argentina and Brazil had decided independently which digital TV standard each nation would deploy, but have recently agreed to work together to implement a single standard for the Mercosur customs union. The current government in Argentina appears to be reconsidering its earlier decision. ATSC and DVB [12] are apparently both being considered, but there appears to be no interest in ISDB.
While HDTV-ready TVs sales are increasing in this country, no single HD feed is currently available. Local cable company "Cablevision" will start HDTV transmission on January 20, 2007.
[edit] Brazil
In 2003 the first 1080i models were introduced (capable of rescaling 720p) and native 720p LCD monitors in 2004 reached the market. The SBTVD standard was proposed by government in the end of 2005 - being able to be compatible with either ISDB, ATSC or DVB.
The Brazilian government took a while to decide which standard to choose, but on June 29th 2006, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree choosing ISDB-T as the national standard [13]. Various criteria were taken into account, including better technical quality, robustness, and a US$2 billion investment on construction of a semiconductor factory in the country financed by NEC, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba (which would allow for the TV sets and decoders to be built in the country). The terrestrial standard, which will be free and accessible "country-wide", is slated for commercial launch December 2007 [14]. The transition to ISDB is expected to take at least 9 years. The analog system will be shutdown in 2016. Manufacturers will adopt the new standard for new TV sets and will also make converters (set top boxes) available for older analogue PAL-M TV's.
[edit] Uruguay
While HDTV-ready TV sets are available at the country, a few factors seem to constrain the development of the new technology in the near term:
- Prices for LCD, Plasma and DLP-based TV sets can be two times more expensive in Uruguay than in the region, or four times more expensive than in the US, while wages are also lower than in the region. Some DLP-based displays can cost up to US$7000 in Uruguay. There have been few examples, if any, of CRT-based HDTV sets. Taxes seem to play a huge factor in the high prices.
- The cable industry has, then, few incentives to provide other services beyond basic TV services: Internet-by-cable and cable telephony have been either strictly prohibited by law or thwarted by high taxes on equipment that make a business case for newer technologies unfeasible. Digital Cable has started rolling out, with an initial 100% increase of monthly cost for the SD digital service. High prices for HDTV sets do not help. Some of the cable companies for the largest markets are also owned by the largest local TV content providers, which as of 2006 have not started broadcasting any HDTV content.
- DirecTV might be in a better position to provide HDTV content, given that they have experience and content from the US and given that they serve the whole continent. But DirecTV's policy in Uruguay has been that of providing "leftover" equipment from Argentina to its customers in Uruguay (i.e., first-generation RCA receivers), which as of now do not support HDTV content or Dolby AC-3 Sound. Uruguayan DirecTV customers have no way of buying an alternative DirecTV set, other than that provided by DirecTV.
- Uruguay hoped for neighboring countries reaching an agreement on an HDTV standard, but so far that does not seem to be the case. Brazil has adopted the ISDB system, while Argentina and Uruguay have historically used TV systems based on a European standard (PAL-N 625/50 Hz). Now Argentina seems to be settling on the ATSC standard, and Uruguayan URSEC authorities have provided no information on which road they will go. The TV sets being sold in Uruguay seem to be closer to ATSC HDTV-based standards (60 Hz systems). If a 50 Hz standard is adopted, consumers who bought 60 Hz might get hurt if there is a lack of compatibility with the sets being sold. Most of the DVD-based content in the country is NTSC/60 Hz-based, while the TV standard in use is PAL/50 Hz-based. Most of the analog TV sets sold are PAL-N, PAL-M and NTSC capable, while most DVD players are multiregion. Authorities are not asking retailers to identify which standard the HDTV sets sold adhere to, nor have they required retailers to warn consumers that Uruguay has not yet settled on a a given HDTV standard. Most tech-savvy consumers feel uneasy about buying for themselves or recommending to friends such high-priced TV sets while so much doubt surrounds HDTV standards in the country.
[edit] Chile
Chile will decide the Standard by the end of March of 2007. HDTV-ready TVs are available quite long.
[edit] References
- ^ Brasil fecha acordo com padrão japonês de TV digital (2006-06-26).
- ^ 47 USC 309(j)(14)(A) [1] as amended by section 3002 of S.1932 signed into law February 8, 2006
