(Photo – Sudath Malaweera)

The first digital terrestrial television broadcasting in Sri Lanka will start in 2023 after the launch last week of the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Project (DTTB), the Daily News reports.

The project to digitise Sri Lankan television broadcasting is being carried out by the Ministry of Mass Media in conjunction with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and financial assistance provided by the Japanese government to Sri Lanka.

“Over the implementation of this project, more than 40 years of the analogue broadcasting system will be migrated to a digital broadcasting platform by enabling high definition (HD) viewing experience for each and every Sri Lankan television viewer,” Mass Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

One of the biggest advantages of the DTTB project is the ability to offer automatic early disaster warnings targeting specific areas for natural calamities such as floods, earth slips and even tsunamis.

In addition, broadcasters will be able to offer high quality service at a lower platform cost for all Sri Lankan viewers, and advertisers will have greater opportunities to market their products.

It is planned to totally switch off the analogue broadcasting services in the country by 2027.

“Sri Lanka has been using analogue TV for over 40 years and due to the implementation of this project, 200 more TV channels will be allowed to broadcast a number of new programmes in addition to the existing television channels,” the project Director of DTTB, Prasanna Rajapaksa, said.