Gov't wants analog TV switched off by 2023

The government plans to phase out analog television by 2023, to fully migrate the industry to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) in the next six years, an official of the Department of Information, Communications and Technology (DICT) said Tuesday.

"We are targeting four to six years of simulcast before the analog shutoff ... switch off," George P. Tardio, chief of the DICT National Information and Communications Technology Planning, said during the Digital TV Summit 2017 in Quezon City.

Within the DICT timeframe, broadcasters must be able to complete the roll out of digital service before 2018.

In November 2013, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a memorandum circular on the "Standard for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcast Service," following an order of then-President Benigno Aquino III for the industry to shift to digital TV using the Japanese standard.

In November 2013, GMA Network Inc. said it was working on a digital terrestrial television technology "far superior" to those already out in the market. It has allocated P416 million to the project. — VDS, GMA News