Mexico. In order to make the corresponding adjustments in accordance with the provisions of the constitutional reform of June 2013 and the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting, the Plenary of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) issued today the new Policy for the Transition of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), which lays down the guidelines to be followed by the concessionaires and permittees of this service in order to complete the transmission of analogue television signals by 31 December 2015 at the latest.
The document incorporates comments and opinions received during the public consultation process carried out by this Institute in the period from July 18 to August 8 of this year, and in which 57 contributions were received on the content of the project.
In this way, the new DTT Policy establishes the requirements for the IFT to order the analog blackout, including that a level of penetration of receivers and decoders suitable for receiving digital transmissions be reached in 90% or more of the low-income households defined by the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) in each coverage area, that is, in the sum of the service areas of each television station in the country and its complementary shadow zone equipment, in which analog transmissions are made.
Likewise, the DTT Policy determines the mechanisms and coordination between the IFT and the Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) – responsible for the execution of programs and actions related to the delivery of digital receiver equipment – so that this unit provides the Institute with information related to low-income households defined by SEDESOL, such as:
a) Number of households per coverage area where analog transmissions are made.
(b) Number of households in which receivers suitable for receiving digital transmissions have been delivered, by coverage area where analogue transmissions are made.
c) The percentage of penetration with receivers or digital decoders in homes, in each coverage area where analog transmissions are made.
Given this, in order to provide certainty and legal certainty to the concessionaires and permittees of broadcast television, the DTT Policy establishes that when the Institute determines that the aforementioned requirements have been met, this regulatory body will agree on the date of the analog blackout, resolution that will be made public through the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).
Regarding multiprogramming, a system that allows more than one programming channel to be transmitted on the same transmission channel, the DTT Policy indicates that concessionaires and permittees who want to make use of it must comply with the provisions of the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting and the guidelines on the matter issued by the Institute.
In accordance with the constitutional mandate, the concessionaires and permittees of broadcast television are obliged to return to the State the channels on which they carried out the analogue transmissions as soon as the digitization process is completed.
In order to guarantee the continuity of the television service, the obligation of the concessionaires and permittees to replicate with their DTT transmissions the coverage area of their analog signals is established, for which they may use complementary shadow zone equipment.
The IFT will carry out the necessary actions to keep the population duly informed about the transition to DTT, specifying the date and time when the termination of analog transmissions will take place, a task for which it may coordinate with dependencies of the Public Administration.
Likewise, the concessionaires and permittees of the service will also be obliged to carry out campaigns to inform their audiences in a timely manner about this process.
The Institute will monitor compliance with the obligations arising from the transition to DTT and will sanction, under the terms indicated in the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting, concessionaires and broadcast television permittees who do not fully comply with them.
With the issuance of this Policy, the Agreement adopting the Technological Standard of Digital Terrestrial Television and establishing the Policy for the Transition to Digital Terrestrial Television in Mexico, published in the DOF on July 2, 2004 and whose last modification was published on May 7, 2014.
