Singapore sets migration date for digital TV


Details

Rebecca Hawkes

| 25 January 2016




Singapore will cease analogue television broadcasts by the end of 2017, the Ministry of Communications and Information has said.


National broadcaster Mediacorp converted all seven of its free-to-air (FTA) TV channels to the digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) format in December 2013, but has also continued to broadcast in analogue. This will end next year.

“The freed-up spectrum will provide more capacity for mobile broadband and better support our Smart Nation development,” said Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim.

Until now, the ministry has said that analogue broadcasting in Singapore could be turned off before 2020.

To continue watching FTA television channels after digital migration, viewers will need to buy either a new TV set with a built-in digital tuner or connect a digital set-top box (STB) and an indoor antenna to their existing TV sets.

A label issued by the Media Development Authority (MDA) indicates whether the TV set or STB is compliant with Singapore's digital format.

MDA also offers free digital STBs to low-income households, and claims to have installed digital TV receivers to almost half of the 77,000 homes that automatically qualified for assistance. Those eligible who have not yet received an STB are urged to apply to the MDA.

According to Mediacorp, 21 housing estates, or 65% of all households in Singapore, can already receive digital TV transmissions.

Subscribers to Singtel or StarHub’s existing digital pay-TV services comprise about 60% of the island population.