The UAE will switch to fixed digital television by 2013
offering new opportunities to operators and broadcasters and diversifying TV
content, the country’s telecoms regulator said Tuesday.
The move from analog broadcasting will smooth the path for new TV channels, including video-on-demand, home cinema and
other pay-per-view models, TRA director general Mohammed Al Ghanim said.
“It will open huge opportunities for operators,” he said at
a news conference in Abu Dhabi. “There will be more [TV networks] than we see
with the analog channels.”
The move would bring the UAE in line with more mature media
markets such as those in the US, UK and Canada, some of which have offered
digital broadcasting for several years.
In addition to offering better picture and sound, the switch
to digital will allow broadcasters to offer video and interactive data services
that were unavailable under the analog system.
Licensing of new TV operators will begin once the move to digital
is complete, Al Ghanim said.
“It is premature to talk about the number of licenses,” he
said, but added the regulator was unlikely to license hundreds of new channels.
Fixed line television services will move to digital in 2013
but mobile TV services could be introduced as early as 2012, Al Ghanim said.
“The process is a
complex process and includes many stakeholders. We have thoroughly studied the
process and the benefit and impact on end users,” he said.
Bahrain’s government said last year the kingdom would move
to digital television by December 2011 after the cabinet approved a four-phase
national plan.
Prior to the civil unrest that has engulfed the island
state, the cabinet instructed the ministry to allocate the necessary budget to
carry out the plan.
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