The Netherlands ceased transmission of ”free to air” analogue television on Monday, becoming the first nation to switch completely to digital signals through its ether.
Few consumers noticed the difference, as the overwhelming majority of Dutch get TV via cable. Only about 74 000 households relied primarily on the old-fashioned TV antennas in this country of 16-million, though 220 000 people had an ”occasional use” set somewhere such as in a vacation house, camper or boat, according to government figures.
The bandwidth formerly used by analogue has been licensed by former telecommunications company Royal KPN NV, which will use it to broadcast digital television. Under its agreement with the government, KPN will continue to broadcast three state-supported channels free of charge, and will charge around €14 a month for a package of other channels that is comparable with cable.
To receive and decode the digital signal, customers must buy a tuner, available for about €50. KPN spokesperson Bram Oudshoorn said the switch occurred at midnight on Sunday without any reported problems.
At present the full package of channels is available in most of the country, with full national coverage expected by early 2007. The government-sponsored channels are available nationally.
”When 94% of the market is served by cable, more competition is healthy,” said Economic Affairs Ministry spokesperson Judith Thompson.
Cable here faces minor competition from satellite and, more recently, television via high-speed internet connections with the service known as IPTV.
Analogue television was introduced in The Netherlands in 1951.
Governments around the world plan to make the switch to digital, with some Scandinavian countries and Belgium targeting a 2007 switch-off date, 2009 in the United States and 2011 in Japan. Most developed countries have already begun testing or broadcasting digital television signals on some bandwidths. — Sapa-AP