Colombia. Within the framework of the transition process from analog to digital television that is carried out in Colombia as a fundamental part of the update of this medium, last Wednesday, March 25, the National Television Authority, ANTV, held the event of turning on digital terrestrial television DTT, in the municipalities of San Cayetano and Ulloa.
The event was held simultaneously in San Cayetano, Norte de Santander and Ulloa, Valle del Cauca, the two municipalities selected as pilot in the country, in order to make a first transition development and achieve a learning process that will take place until 2019, the year of the analog blackout.
The ANTV, with the support of the public operator RTVC, the Consortium of National Private Television Channels (Caracol and RCN) and the European Union, has led the process and in 2014 launched the pilot exercise for the analysis of behavior, acceptance and cultural modifications with the arrival of DTT in these two populations of less than 5000 inhabitants where, by technical characteristics, the signals transmitted by the public and private networks converge with all the channels and stations on the air in digital DTT signal.
In this context, the necessary equipment, DTT decoder and its respective antenna, were provided for the reception of digital television in open and free signal (DTT) to the households registered by the ANTV with the support of the National Consulting Center, located in the urban area in each of the aforementioned municipalities.
The Irish company Astec was commissioned by the European Union to carry out the monitoring, socialization and final analysis of the pilot process in the two municipalities, in order to deliver these inputs to the actors involved in the technological migration from analog to digital terrestrial television, as a support to adjust the strategies that have been executed and that have delivered important results among Colombians.
The signal coverage has two transmission networks with the following channels: the public one with Señal Colombia, Institucional, Canal Uno and the respective regional channel for each geographical area, and the private network with the main or traditional channels of Caracol HD and RCN HD, the HD2 and NTN24 channels, in addition to the Radionic radio stations, Radio Nacional, Blu Radio, La FM and RCN radio, today reach 63% of the national population.
Likewise, according to the latest EGM media study, the knowledge of 40% of Colombians of the new DTT digital terrestrial television service, make us foresee an adequate transition from analog to digital television by 2019 in Colombia.
