By : B.K. SIDHU
LINK :
PETALING JAYA: The request for proposal (RFP) for digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) will be issued soon, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
However, the regulator did not say how much of the controversial 700MHz spectrum would be used by the broadcasters or the telecoms player in the digital era.
The “700MHz band is currently being used for broadcasting and the spectrum band for DTTB is 470MHz - 742MHz.”
The telecoms and broadcasting industry need the spectrum for their broadcasting needs. The telcos are becoming broadcasters by pushing TV contents to their users.
In a response to queries from StarBiz , MCMC said the RFP would be issued soon.
Sources said the regulator was evaluating the best model for the DTTB and the requirements were being worked out.
The move from the analogue systems to digital in the broadcasting industry involved the conversion of analogue technology to DTTB.
Astro has gone digital while the country's free-to-air TV services such as RTM 1 and 2, TV3, NTV7, 8TV and Channel 9 are using the analogue technology.
MCMC said the broadcasters were using the 174 230 MHz and 470 806 MHz spectrum bands for their programmes.
Under the current set-up, TV broadcasters are individually licensed as content application service providers where they install their own equipment at transmission sites.
By going digital, the players would need to migrate to a different band and there are needs for a new infrastructure.
The spectrum bands earmarked for digital broadcasting are 174-230MHz and 470-742MHz, MCMC said.
Although the timeline fixed for the phase out of the analogue system is 2015, the regulator has yet to identify those responsible to finance the cost of set-top boxes.
The cost could be between RM1bil and RM2bil and set-top boxes are needed in a digital environment.
MCMC was looking into several options with the interest of the lower-income group in mind.
This move to the digital era in the broadcasting world was a nationwide initiative and not merely focussed on the urban folks, it added.
No comments:
Post a Comment