Total blackout in Gran Canaria

Starting today, the inhabitants of the island will only have access to the digital signal on DTT. The Government of the Canary Islands plans to articulate a loan plan for municipalities that need to launch additional issuing centers to the expansion plan agreed with the Ministry of Industry.

Although there are still many areas of digital shadow, today the deadline given by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce for the analogue blackout in Gran Canaria has finally been met. Although the Canarian Government had expressly requested a progressive cessation for the island, finally everything seems to indicate that the Gran Canarians will only be able to have access to digital signals from today.

To avoid incidents in the process, the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI) is monitoring any anomalies that could occur during these days in Gran Canaria. The director of the ACIISI, Juan Ruiz Alzola, has expressed the “concern” of the Government of the Canary Islands in the entire process of transition to DTT, and pointed out that from the first moment the State was warned that the transition phases in the Archipelago could have been designed differently. However, he expressed the willingness of the Government of the Canary Islands to collaborate so that the DTT process benefits the population that can currently watch analog television.

On the other hand, the Canary Islands Government has announced that it will launch a plan to lend funds at zero interest to those municipalities in digital shadow that want to increase coverage with their own retransmission centers. The total loan initially planned is five million euros for fourteen years and two grace years. Another measure that the island Government will adopt will be the transfer of DTT terminals to groups with accessibility problems, among which are retirees and those with visual or hearing difficulties.