Digital television - why now?

“Sometimes I meet with borough mayors and the first thing they say to me is that they’re worried about the shutting down of analog transmissions, as they think it means a return to the old days, when they were children, and no-one had television! That’s the point of drama and disinformation that this whole exercise has reached!” Who’s speaking is Eduardo Cardadeiro, ANACOM’s TDT administrator - anxious to quell any such fears.

He says they seem “incomprehensible” after such a huge publicity campaign, which involved a mail drop of more than six million leaflets and the launching of a 24-hour free TDT helpline “so that people could ask questions and receive answers at no cost”.

“What’s happening is that today we can have television for 100% of the population” – but before learning how, we ask “why now?” for yet another imposition on the (beleaguered) Portuguese people.

“By shutting down analog transmissions, we open up a huge area within what is a scarce resource: radioelectric space. Think about it: in Portugal there used to be more than 40 channels using analog transmission. They began at 400 MHz and ended at 800 MHz! But, in the digital network there’s only the need for one single channel!” Cardadeiro explains.

“One of the frequencies opened up” by analog’s shutdown, and free from the end of April, will go on to be used “by 4th generation (4G) mobile” telecommunications.

“The European digital agenda involves the possibility of broadband signals in remote areas. It’s what happens with the 800 Mhz signals, for example – channels 61 to 69 – which have a huge range and take services of Internet access of up to 30/ 40 megabits per second to areas where the kind of investment required for landline access would be unthinkable”.

According to Cardadeiro, the anarchic saturation of the analog network “blocks the development of many other things that the common citizen wants”. For example, the creation of new regional or local television stations – which, in future, will all use digital transmission.

“As it is right now, the new network transmits in the order of 19.9 megabits per second”. That’s the kind of broadband sufficient for “three channels of HD, plus one normal definition or between seven to nine channels of standard definition”.

Of course adaptation costs “will have to be supported by the population”. In a universe of 4.100.000 families, three in 10 will have to migrate to the new system.

“There’s 30% of the population that doesn’t have paid television”, for example, cable. “Those people tend to be the elderly, those on the lowest incomes and with the lowest literacy levels,” he admits.

Cardadeiro highlights the programme of subsidies available – to which low-income/ struggling households have the right of 50% towards their expenses. Those to be helped are in three groups: people who receive IRS subsidies; pensioners who receive less than €500 per month and people with disabilities equal or superior to a 60% handicap. Hospitals and other social welfare institutions are also allowed to suggest households that should receive subsidies.

People who own old-fashioned television sets will have to buy a signal decoder. These cost between €25 and €70, and there are dozens available on the market. The old-fashioned aerials on people’s roofs are still perfectly adequate for receiving the new transmissions.

Meanwhile, “with new digital technology, you can either see it well, or you won’t see it at all!” The answer really is that households who have been enjoying “telenovelas” and the national news with a fuzzy picture may well have to substitute cables and connections that are in poor condition. The worst hypothesis is that people will have to climb up onto their roofs to move aerials into a better position to receive new digital emissions.

Another possible hurdle is the so-called “shadow areas”. “We estimate that 120.000 households on the continent will need to buy satellite receivers – particularly those in mountainous regions, or where there are very few houses”, said Cardadeiro.

In these cases equipment is more expensive - about €100. Cardadeiro suggests people affected should called the “linha verde” number: 800 200 838, to find out the best equipment for their particular situation.

Cardadeiro admits that there was some talk of a fifth TV channel – as a way of encouraging people to migrate to TDT. It’s a strategy used successfully in other countries.

“Yes, the government did launch a tender out for a fifth channel – and two bids were received, but the ERC decided against both. The candidates have now taken the matter to court – but basically the whole matter is now under legal scrutiny…”

“It’s always very difficult to make a comparison with what happens in other countries. What’s the formula for financing a station with an open signal? Selling publicity! Remember, the publicity market depends very much on the size of the country, and the number of consumers within it. Compare us to Spain, which is twice as large. Italy is six times larger than Portugal!”

Looking once more inwards, he adds “the 12th January signal shutdown, in Palmela, affected around 170.000 families” (who had previously just used analog TV). “By the end of this week, we had only received 200 complaints on our hotline…”

At the end of the meeting with Algarve journalists, the ANACOM committee was hurrying off to Faro to “see AMAL (the association of municipal councils), which has requested a meeting”. “We are going to try and explain the situation, so that their worries are answered and show our willingness to monitor the whole change-over process. We hope we can rely on all the mayors of the Algarve so that the process goes with the least disruption possible. If we’re all involved, if every citizen helps family members, neighbours, the elderly, we think it will be possible to get through the change with relative tranquility. We’ve already seen many borough councils actively involved in helping their populations and identifying the most critical cases”, Cardadeiro adds.