With a transmitter installed in the tower of the parish of San Miguel de Yungay, the canals regional groups in ARETEL Bío Bío, disseminated a signal from TV to neighbors and locals who received the contents audiovisual on their current televisions, equipped with decoders capable of capturing digital images.
As a historical landmark for regional television in Chile, the Undersecretary qualified of Telecommunications, Pablo Bello, the realization of the first broadcast digital free-to-air television in rural areas of South America, located in the small town of Yungay, region of the Bío Bío.
This unprecedented experience in a town with less than 20 thousand inhabitants, was aired by the regional channels grouped in ARETEL BÍO BÍO, as part of your technical preparation for the transition from television analog to digital, which will be developed in Chile.
With a low transmitter power, installed in the bell tower of the Parroquia San Miguel de Yungay, a local television signal was sent to neighbors and locals of the commune, who received in their current televisions audiovisual content, adapting in the monitors a digital set-top box.
This effort goes in line of what we expect as a Government for the transition to the digital television. May this technological change be the opportunity to democratize television, opening more space for the development of regional channels. Want than local and rural communities such as Yungay, Hualqui or Lota can see reflected on the screen their daily reality and their interests, said Pablo Bello.
The head of the Subtel, guest to know these experimental transmissions in Yungay, he highlighted what makes sense to make government if our public policies allow us to achieve the dreams of greater pluralism in the television, greater programmatic offer and consolidation of the local channels. What ARETEL has done in Yungay, put on the air local content for a local community, is what we want it to happen with digital television in Chile
For his part, Mariano Arana, president of ARETEL Bío Bío, thanked the support that is lending the government to the regional media and advanced that as a guild we hope to actively participate in the discussion regulatory where the framework of digital television will be defined in Chile. We want to be part of it and be heard, because our people demand more and more local content on television, Said.
In turn, the priest Luis Rocha, Pastor of Yungay, stressed that good ideas should be supported and the possibility of having digital television open in the near future, for the entire Yungay community, we think it is very important. For this reason he facilitated without obstacles to the tower of his church for the installation of the antenna, which it hopes will allow to transmit in the commune, in form experimental, the rooster mass this Christmas in digital format.
Finally, Undersecretary Pablo Bello, reiterated that for the Government it is critical that they are generated the conditions for Chileans in regions and rural areas have access to more and better television. The generalist and centralized programmatic offer of the Santiago does not meet the needs of local communities in regions. People don't want to know if the day is sunny in Santiago, nor of the hole that appeared in the Alameda, the people demands that their local reality be reflected on the screen and that The goal must be met with the new digital television. Have the same television today, but digital, would be a failure for the country, Bello said.
