Costa Rica carries out its first DTT transmission under the ISDB-Tb standard

The state broadcaster Canal 13 is carrying out this week the first digital television transmission in Costa Rica using the Brazilian-Japanese format (ISDB-Tb).

Under the ISDB-Tb standard, Costa Rica's public broadcaster, Canal 13, is carrying out its first digital terrestrial television test broadcast this week.
The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, ordered this Monday from the Presidential House with a “go ahead!” carry out the “digital ignition” with equipment donated by Japan and installed at the top of the Irazú volcano, in the center of the country.

Costa Rica officially chose the ISDB-Tb format in April 2010 and announced that the “blackout” of analog television will occur in 2017.

The Costa Rican government has opted for ISDB-Tb due to the robustness of its signal since the country has large mountainous areas. The Japanese-Brazilian format is the one used in other Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Peru.

Coinciding with the beginning of these broadcasts, the president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, referred to the five accesses that the country has to digital networks and to the national broadband plan that she is about to present to the country, which has an additional, essential and fundamental component that explains why in Costa Rica we talk about human development hand in hand with equity.

“I am referring to the solidarity broadband plan that will allow us to go from the outside in, that is, to reach the most lagging regions of the country with the same connectivity standards that any person, family or company that can afford broadband with the conditions that modern societies demand today can have,” said the president.

In addition, it plans to accompany the actions that make up the Digital Social Agreement with the aspirations of leaving 100% of the educational centers connected to its Administration and distributing nearly 40 thousand laptops to single-teacher centers and tele-secondary students.

“Por eso, el paso que hoy damos con el lanzamiento de la televisión digital es fundamental; no ocurre de manera aislada sino que forma parte de una propuesta clara, bien direccionada, concebida y debidamente articulada de este Acuerdo Social Digital que le permitirá a Costa Rica moverse de una economía fundamentada en factores de producción y eficiencia a una fundamentada en factores de innovación. Es la única vía para entrar en el umbral del desarrollo”, agregó Chinchilla.