The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Tuesday ruled out an immediate abolition of analog television (TV) broadcasts this year given the slow adoption of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) by households in the provinces.
NTC Commissioner Ella Blanca Lopez candidly acknowledged the regulators have entertained the likelihood of a shutdown in analog TV broadcasts “but it’s still tentative,” she said.
The government earlier planned a shutdown in analog TV broadcasts this year, but Lopez quickly said most households, particularly in the provinces, were not digital ready.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology had estimated more than 14 million households nationwide rely on free-to-air analog TV broadcasts.
“A shutdown is problematic since not everyone is digital ready” and that the digital TV penetration in the country is less than 50 percent, she said.
“The penetration rate in Metro Manila is high, but not in the provinces. The other networks gave rolled out (their own digital broadcasts), so we will get there,” she added.
Just last year, GMA Network Inc. announced additional investments of more than P1 billion for the expansion of its digital TV broadcasts nationwide.
Much earlier, in 2020, the network rolled out its “GMA Affordabox,” a plug-and-play device that easily connects to an analog TV to receive digital television broadcasts.
TV5 Network Inc. in September 2021 launched its DTT set top box called Sulit TV Box, while ABS-CBN Corp. introduced TVplus box way back in 2015.
In November 2013, the NTC issued Memorandum Circular 05-11-2013, adopting Japan’s ISDB-T standard for the country’s migration to digital TV broadcasting.
