Analog TV in PH To Shut Down By 2023

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TECHNOLOGY | February 20, 2017

(Image Source: Philippine Star)

More than two million households have already made the transition from old analog to digital terrestrial television providing them a clearer and more enjoyable television viewing experience, but this is just only the beginning as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) aims to have television stations in the Philippines switch off analog broadcasts by the year 2023 for the full implementation of digital terrestrial television in the country.

This purpose has been revealed at last week's Digital TV Summit with the introduction of the government's migration plan for the complete transition of television broadcasts in the Philippines to digital.

Major television stations in the Philippines have already switched on their own digital broadcasts with ABS-CBN's TV Plus digibox reportedly having two million units sold and GMA Network slating to release its own digital TV product by the second half of 2017. The only problem which is set to be the main focus of the migration plan is the smaller broadcasters considering that it would take a huge chunk of investment for any broadcaster to acquire digital TV broadcasting equipment and improve its infrastructure for the transition.

The Philippines has officially adopted Japanese technology as its standard for digital terrestrial television broadcasts, and possibly the best advantage of the said technology is the Emergency Warning Broadcast System (EWBS) that could benefit millions of households watching their favorite television shows. The system enables the automatic broadcast of warnings informing viewers on impending calamities and emergency situations. So far, if I remember correctly, only ABS-CBN's TV Plus digibox and Sharp's DTV-ready television sets are the only products that are capable of the said feature.