Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) is entering the digital era today by being the first terrestrial television station to broadcast programs through digital signals.
"The onset of digital broadcasting is another revolution in the television broadcasting industry. From the arrival of black-and-white to color television to the advent of digital broadcasting, every stage is a revolution in itself," said David Cheng (鄭優), TTV general manager.
With the availability of digital technology, one television channel can be compressed into three. As such, TTV will be offering three channels: a general channel, a family channel that targets a female audience and a finance channel.
Digital channels offer viewers different options.
"There are four different modes of digital technology: through satellite, multimedia on demand (MOD), ADSL, cable and terrestrial. What the television broadcasting industry is working toward is to compete to generalize digital television," said Julian Chen, (陳洲任), deputy manager for event promotion.
TTV offers a FreeView setup box and a pen-sized antenna to enable viewers to receive all channels available in digital quality.
"With eight digital broadcasting towers installed around the country, about 80 percent of all areas of Taiwan are able to get reception. We are currently looking to include all the missing corners around the country," said Cheng.
Once a terrestrial setup box is installed, a viewer is able to receive terrestrial channels via digital signals for free.
"The good news is that these extra channels are free of charge as long as a viewer pays the initial cost to install a setup box," said Chen.
Digitalization also requires synergy among the four terrestrial television stations: Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd (TTV), China Television Co (CTC), Chinese Television System (CTS) and Formosa Television (FTV).
Together, the four stations are to broadcast the Athens Olympics in August and may also establish a common television station in the future.
"The Government Information Office (GIO) has proposed that the four stations come together to form a common station and split up the different channels; we are still waiting for further response on that. Right now, what is for sure is that we will form strategic alliances for reach, development and other different areas" said Cheng.
In order to transfer its old analogue system to the new digital system, TTV has spent NT$1 billion on research and development.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires