NBN: NTC to issue IRR on digital TV in April

At last, the digital TV rules are set to be released this coming April. Expect DTV sets and boxes by few months after.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Monday said it expects to complete the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on digital terrestrial television (DTT) by April amid clamor to review the approved platform for the country's migration.

Gamaliel Cordoba, NTC chief, said the regulator has formed committees on legal, technical and communications for the creation of IRR for digital TV.

"The meetings will be every Wednesday for big group and every Monday for committees. We will try to finish the IRR in two months," Cordoba said.

Cordoba said it takes three to five years for a new technology to mature. "We cannot wait for that, otherwise the Philippines will be left behind sa digital tv migration."

The country originally planned to migrate from analog to digital TV in 2015.

In June, last year, the NTC approved a memorandum circular mandating the use of Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) for DTT migration.

The Philippines will be the first in Asia to adopt the Japanese standard for digital TV.

Besides Japan, other countries that adopted ISDB-T were Brazil, Peru, Chile, Venzuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Paraguay.

ABS-CBN Corp. earlier said it plans to spend P3 billion and P5 billion to roll out DTT nationwide for over five years to improve signal, particularly in Metro Manila.

Digital TV is a system for broadcasting and receiving digital sound and video signals that requires a specially designed and more advanced TV set than the traditional analog box.

This means that upon migration to the digital format, consumers who still have analog TV sets would have to buy set-top boxes to receive digital signals.

According to the NTC, the set-top boxes for the Japanese standard would cost $ 11, while the price for the European standard gadget would range from $ 12 to $ 13.

The regulator estimates that around 14 million Filipino households use analog TV sets. - PNA, dated 14 February 2011, 10:11 PM.

Source: National Broadcasting Network