Digital broadcasting in Philippines not within short term

The President and CEO of Philippines’  GMA Network says the country’s two giant networks are capable of producing and broadcasting programs on high-definition or digital television, but it might still take some time before local networks could start transmitting digitally.

“There are things happening in digital TV but it’s not yet time for that. The only problem is the television sets are analog, so if we go digital, our signals could not be received,” said Felipe Gozon, President and Chief Executive Officer of GMA.

Gozon added that GMA is ready to replace its transmitter with one that has digital technology and households can buy set-up box to allow their analog television sets to receive digital signals. However, the set-up boxes are still expensive for households to purchase and GMA doesn’t have the money to give away such devices.

Meanwhile, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. earlier said that it has spent almost a billion pesos to go into digital broadcasting, manilatimes.net reports.

Digital television is an innovative transmitting technology that has transformed television-viewing experience. It has enabled broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality. It also offers multiple programming choices.

In April 2011, the National Telecommunications Commission ordered all broadcasting companies in the Philippines to shut off their analog signal by December 2015 and switch to digital broadcast.