The Russian Federation once again speaks about the analog TV broadcasting cut-off in 2018.
According to the news agency “Interfax”, speaking to the “United Russia” Party’s MPs, the Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov did not rule out the possibility of the Russian Government’s reexamining the analog TV broadcasting cut-off in 2018.
As known, on July 1, 2018 it was planned to cut off definitely the analog format of TV broadcasting due to transiting to the digital signal format. However, the government commission set up to consider that issue, decided to postpone the cut-off for early 2019.
It is expected that the analog TV broadcasting would be ousted from the media market due to its unprofitability. This idea was forwarded last year by Alexei Volin, Deputy Minister of Communications. He pointed out that in 2018, the analog TV channels broadcasting in the communities with fewer than 100 thousand residents would be most likely deprived of state backing. This, in turn, would lead to the major channels’s giving up analog format broadcasts.
For the time being, 20 TV channels incorporated into two multiplexes have been actively broadcasting in digital format within Russia. Almost 63% of Russian viewers, as at the beginning of this year, were able to receive digital format broadcasts. The startup of the third multiplex is scheduled for 2018.
