Not all country dwellers have the necessary equipment for receiving digital TV signal.
As Nushiravan Maharramli, the Head of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting (NCTRB), reported to Trend news agency, the question regarding the disconnection of analog television broadcasting in Azerbaijan will be resolved by the end of this year.
“Azerbaijan has already implemented the switch to digital broadcasting but analogue broadcasting has not gone off air” – said the Head of the NTRCB.
We would like to note that 99 % of the country is already covered by digital TV signal.
As Maharramli told, the switch from analog to digital broadcasting is delayed due to the fact that many citizens of Azerbaijan have not acquired the necessary equipment yet:
“Not everyone has the decoders, in particular, the regions residents. So, we can possibly prolong the process of analogue television switch-off.”
In May 2014 Mediasat reported that Azerbaijan is ready for the switch to digital broadcasting, since 98 % of the country was covered by a digital signal. In the autumn of the same year there was announced the date of the phased shutdown of analog TV broadcasting – January 1, 2015. As a reminder, the recommended date of analog TV broadcasting shutdown was June 17, 2015. However, this did not happen due to the holding of the first European Games in Baku. Later, the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan reported that the full switch to digital TV broadcasting will be made in the autumn of the same year. But the state regulator in the field of broadcasting did not approve total switch from analog to digital broadcasting, as the question of Azerbaijan dwellers readiness to the process had not been studied yet.
