Problems for Spain's DTT plans

chris

Spanish plans to switch off its national TV frequencies this April have hit the buffers.

Spain's national analogue switch off is scheduled to take place on April 3 2008. This date ought to have been the final step in a process that started last year. However, about half of the regional and local TV channels don't yet have their corresponding licenses.

Nevertheless, experts supervising the plans continue to assure interested parties – as they have done to date – that the processes of issuing the remaining licences will be concluded, while at the same time saying those channels without a final license will have to close down.

According to José Luis Uribarri, ASODAL's (the Association of Private Digital Television Stations) president, the remaining illegal TV channels without licenses will have six months to prepare to close down.

It is the responsibility of Spain's regional autonomous governments to issue these new licenses. Some regions have already complied (Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, Navarra, La Rioja, Galicia and Asturias). Said to be in the process of distributing licenses are the autonomous regions of Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura. The problem area is said to be Castilla-León.

The next ASODAL congress (in April) will study the attitude of the autonomous governments over the position of local illegal TV stations as well as financing public broadcasting, the process of digitalization of the signals, local TV, as well as content rights management and the opportunities generated by interactivity.

TV channels, production companies, public administrations, university teachers and technical providers will be present at this upcoming event being organized by the University of Málaga and sponsored by ASODAL.

Finally Mr Uribarri declared that regional and local TV legislation as it covered digital broadcasting "is not very clear in this field so each one has taken its own way in this new business". ASODAL only aids those regional and local TV channels with digital broadcasting licenses.

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