Brazilian TV regulator set to relax rules to hit switch-off deadline


Details

Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 14 December 2015




In order to reach the minimum 93% digital coverage required to switch off analogue TV, Brazilian broadcasters are now willing to include cable homes in the figures.



However, the broadcaster association Abert is not willing to be flexible with the method of counting DTT-ready homes, as they believe that a minimum equipment requirement needs to be fulfilled. “Being ready for digital TV doesn't only mean owning a set-top box or a digital aerial, it means having them properly installed and working,” said the association's president, Daniel Slaviero, in a meeting with the Minister of Communications, Andre Figueiredo.

Institutions like Gired, which controls the process of digital TV deployment, and telecom authority Anatel want to lower the requirements in order to speed up the switch-off, which was supposed to begin before the end of the year and end by 2018. Their proposals included counting pay-TV digital homes as being DTT-ready (including direct-to-home and cable households) and reducing the minimum coverage to 90%.

At the end of the meeting with the minister, Abert was said to be willing to include digital cable homes in the figures, but not satellite subscriptions.

Abert's main concerns are how low income families will be able to afford the technology. “The analogue switch-off can't result in problems for Brazilians, who are now finding on free-to-air (FTA) TV a source of information, service and entertainment,” added Slaviero.