First official DTT broadcast in Colombia under DVB-T standard

This weekend the first official broadcast of Digital Terrestrial Television under the European DVB-T standard began in Bogotá. National Radio Television of Colombia has launched three public channels: Channel One, Signal Colombia and Channel Institutional.

This weekend, Colombia began official broadcasts, still in testing, of Digital Terrestrial Television under the DVB-T standard. National Radio Television of Colombia (RTVC) has initially launched three channels: Channel One, Signal Colombia and Channel Institutional. This first official broadcast of the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) signal was transmitted from the Calatrava station, which covers the north, west and part of the center of the capital.

This digital lighting in the studios of National Radio Television of Colombia was attended by the director of the National Television Commission, Juan Andrés Carreño Cardona; commissioners Ilse Bechara Castilla and Alberto Guzmán Ramírez; the Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, María del Rosario Guerra; the director of RTVC, Douglas Velásquez; and the manager of Digital Television in Colombia, Mauricio Samudio Lizcano. The president of the Spanish company Impulsa TV, Eladio Gutiérrez, attended the launch of DTT in Colombia as a special guest.

During the event, the director of the National Television Commission, Juan Andrés Carreño, explained that soon televisions with the capacity to receive digital signals of the European standard and decoder boxes, with the European tuner, will be available to Colombians to be installed on current televisions. Likewise, the manager emphasized the main advantages of DTT: multichannel, interactivity, mobility, better image and digital sound.

Until now, CNTV has assigned RTVC more than 8.2 billion pesos for four more DTT stations: Manjui, which will reinforce coverage for a large part of Bogotá, and part of Ibagué and the center of the country; Padre Amaya, which will cover Medellín and a large part of Antioquia; Cerro Kennedy, destined for Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Riohacha and other municipalities on the Atlantic Coast, and La Azalea, for Cali and part of Valle del Cauca. These stations are expected to begin operating in the first half of 2010. Likewise, the CNTV will allocate resources for the regional channel stations.