The National Communications Commission (NCC) said it would spend about NT$450 million (US$14 million) to reinforce the infrastructure for digital TV service before shutting down the analog service.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said yesterday the commission hopes to boost the signal coverage rate to at least 95 percent — from the current 83 percent — before it terminates the analog service.
For this year, Chen said the commission had budgeted NT$55 million to build digital signal gap-filler stations. Another NT$400 million will be allocated in the next two years to build more stations.
The commission said 47 gap-filler stations must be ready when the government completely shuts down the analog service in 2012.
The measure is one of the initiatives taken by NCC to facilitate the transfer from analog to digital TV service.
Earlier this week, the commission said it would submit two proposals to the Cabinet about subsidizing the purchase of set-top boxes, which are needed to change analog signals into digital signals, by April.
The first proposes subsidizing all households at a cost of about NT$12.2 billion, while the second proposes subsidizing only low-income households for NT$260 million.
In either case, Chen said the government subsidies for set-top boxes would apply to terrestrial TV service only, and not cable TV service.
“Terrestrial TV services use public radio frequencies,” Chen said. “The government is responsible for providing the necessary resources to support terrestrial TV services to safeguard the basic right to watch TV.”
The commission is also conducting an experiment on providing digital cable TV services in several designated areas, Chen said. The result of the experiment will help the commission set out targets that cable TV operators should meet when renewing their licenses, he said.
In related news, Chen said the commission aimed to issue operating licenses for Mobile TV services by the end of this year. The commission will post the rules governing bidding for the licenses by April on its Web site.
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