Spain Shuts Down More Than a Third of Its Off-Air Digital Channels
On Advanced-Television.com, David Del Valle reports Spain switches off 9 DTT channels. This reduced the number of DTT (digital terrestrial television) channels in Spain from 24 to 15, a loss of more than one-third. More stations could be shut down if Spain's Supreme Court accepts an appeal from Infraestructuras y Gestion 2002 arguing that eight additional DTT channels obtained their licenses unlawfully.
Del Valle writes that the Government plans to call a public tender to award new DTT licenses, "…although the decision will be subject to the availability of sufficient spectrum, once the allocation of the digital dividend is completed before January 2015."
UTECA, a Spanish private TV association, urged the Government to approve a new DTT plan with a 'legal guarantee' covering the remaining 15 TV channels to avoid any further setback.
Del Valle wrote that according to the General Director of UTECA, Andres Armas, the Administration should: "…carry out as soon as possible a global transition plan of the digital dividend that guarantees the present and the future of the DTT with the least number of affected," adding that the Association was in talks with the Government to reorder the 15 channels with several options open. "At this moment, the future of these 15 channels, of which six are HD, is unknown."
KFMB-TV 65th Anniversary: Part Two
Larry Himmel continues his review of KFMB-TV's 65 years history in KFMB-TV 65th Anniversary: The Events. This is the second part of the article that I reported on last week. The focus of this article is on news events. The DTV transition isn’t mentioned, but I expect some readers, particularly those in southern California, will find the review interesting.
Comments and RF related news items are welcome. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com.
