Thailand Adopts DVB-T2
Following various meetings, seminars and trials, Thailand officially confirmed the adoption of DVB-T2 as its digital terrestiral television standard on May 24th, 2012. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is expecting the system to be up and running within this yearend has already started making plans for the procurement of affordable DVB-T2 set-top boxes.
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May 25, 2012
Channel 5 completes its DVB-T2 trial
The Royal Thai Army’s Radio and Television station, Channel 5, has successfully completed Thailand’s first DVB-T2 digital terrestrial TV trial with the help of Harris and one of its Maxiva UAX air-cooled UHF transmitters.
Based in Bangkok, Channel 5 is a 24-hour TV station produced by the Royal Thai Army, broadcast over the air and streamed live over the internet for the citizens of Thailand.
“Channel 5 is now ready for stepping into the digital television domain,” said Col. Setsiri Trisaksri, chief of Technic.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 4th April 2011
DVB-T2 trial launches on the 25th January
Thailand will launch a trial DVB-T2 service on the 25th January according to a local report.
The trial will be run by Army TV (TV-5) who will use DVB-T2 and MPEG-4 coding. The service will have 4 SD Channels plus 1 HD channel.
Source: DVB
Item added: 6th January 2011
DVB-H mobile TV service for Thailand
Thailand will test a commercial mobile TV service next month following a memorandum of understanding between government backed broadcaster MCOT and mobile handset provider International Engineering Plc (IEC) reports Rapid TV News.
While MCOT has been testing DVB-H technology since 2007, the deal will see a commercial pilot launched in Thailand for the first time.
Six channels will be offered initially free to view but MCOT plan to charge for new channels in the future, with 14 available in total to the service.
Covering Bangkok and its environs, the service will use the existing UHF channel 58 for mobile TV.
MCOT expects 100,000 users in the first year of service.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 29th November 2010
Broadcasters 'must help government in digital transition'
Thai public broadcaster NBT has the responsibility to support the government in the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting at various points, its Deputy Director General Ladavan Bua-Aim has said.
Mrs Ladavan was speaking at an ABU workshop on Content Creation for Digital Television that was hosted by NBT in Bangkok.
She said the Thai government had been actively engaged with both the public and private sectors to ensure a smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in the country.
Among the many studies carried out to assist this transition were those that looked at how national policy should be addressed for the switching over, and the impact on the broadcasting, telecommunication and electronics industries in Thailand.
The results from these studies were compiled and analysed as guidelines for the national policy on selecting an appropriate digital system for the country.
A total of 43 participants from NBT, Bangkok Entertainment Co Ltd (Channel 3), Royal Thai Army Radio (Channel 5), Bangkok Broadcasting & TV Co Ltd (Channel 7), Modernnine TV (MCOT), TPBS-Thailand and the ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific attended the three-day workshop.
The speakers were from Conax-Singapore, Sony Asia Pacific (Singapore and Bangkok), MediaCorp-Singapore and EBS-Korea.
Source: ABU Weekly News Digest
Item added: 4th October 2010
DVB-T Endorsed as ASEAN DTT standard
Ministers endorsed DVB-T as the standard for the ASEAN member nations at the Ninth Conference of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) held in Jakarta Indonesia during May 2007.
ASEAN representatives from member countries, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were all present at the conference to share the endorsement.
According to the joint media statement “ The Ministers noted that the DVB-T standard was the most commonly adopted international DTV standard and would offer the most advantages in terms of economies of scale, ease of adoption and versatility for multiple platforms”.
The common standard is expected to make equipment, such as set-top-boxes and DTV receivers more affordable throughout the region. The analogue switch off date is likely to be 2015.
Source: Joint Media Statement
Item added: 5th June 2007
ASEAN broadcasters push for DVB-T adoption
4 April 2007
Broadcasters who attended the 4th ASEAN Digital Broadcasting (ADB) Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur agreed to recommend the adoption of DVB-T as the ASEAN digital terrestrial broadcasting standard to the 9th Conference of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) due to take place in Jakarta in May 2007. The agreement comes just a few days after the Malaysian government announced the formal adoption of DVB-T following successful trial broadcasts.
More than 50 delegates comprising policy makers, regulators and broadcasters from all ten ASEAN countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat attended the 4th ADB Meeting.
“The adoption of a common standard has very positive implications for ASEAN. For a start, this decision will facilitate the ADB Meeting’s goal of a common digital Set Top Box (STB) for the region,” said Zamani Zakariah, Senior Director, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and Chairman of the 4th ADB Meeting.
With the economies of scale able to be achieved by having a common broadcasting standard and a common STB, consumers in this region are expected to able to enjoy digital television at very affordable prices. The ASEAN nations together represent a population of more than 500 million people.
Among the other issues addressed by the 4th ADB Meeting was the importance for ASEAN countries to also plan and announce their respective analogue switch-off schedule, even if as a preliminary target.
Source: ABU
Item added: 10th April 2007
Background
Although the final decision has yet to be made on the DTV standard, DVB-T test transmissions have been conducted since 5th December 2000. The confirmation of the standard, and when services will begin, will be decided following the results of the trials. Source: ABU Technical Committee DTV status report. (Annual Meeting, 20-23 September 2004)
DVB endeavour to ensure that the information made available on these pages is correct but we are unable to guarantee its accuracy. If you have any additions or corrections please e-mail them to dvb@dvb.org
Last page update: 4th April 2011, Barry Tew
