Philippines TV 'may go digital soon'
The Philippines may shift to digital broadcasting in two to three years, the President of GMA Network, Felipe L Gozon has said. However he emphasised that the digital transition would not be easy as the purchase of the necessary receiving equipment would be expensive for consumers.
He said local broadcasters would have to adapt to the technology but the transition will "not be in the immediate future".
GMA Network has a pending application with the National Telecommunications Commission for the use of digital broadcasting. It aims to convert its channel 27 UHF station to digital television
Source: ABU website
Item added: 22nd December 2008




NTC recommends DVB-T/H for Philippines
The Philippines is likely to adopt DVB-T/H as the standards for its digital migration according to a report in The Manila Times Internet edition.
The Times attributes the news to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) which last week submitted a report to the government recommending the adoption of the standards.
NTC had previously set up a working group to investigate which DTT standard would be best for the Philippines.
The report recommends that the NTC should stop issuing new licences for analogue TV broadcasting by 2010 and plan for the introduction of DTT by 2015.
Source : Manila Time Internet Edition
Item added: 20th October 2008



DVB-H Mobile TV service launched in the Philippines
The first commercial DVB-H service in the Philippines was launched on Tuesday the 24th July by Smart Communications and broadcast firm 360media Corp, a subsidiary of MediaQuest Holdings.
The service is available to both paid and pre-paid subscribers but will be free to all subscribers until August 31st.
The service dubbed myTV, will be available in ‘Mega Manilla,’ Cebu, Davao, Tagaytay, Batangas, Baguio City first and later rolled out to Cagayan de Oro and Boracay.
Consumer studies and trials using DVB-H were carried out earlier this year resulting in “strong acceptance for mobile TV”
The service will start with 10 channels initially adding more premium channels later.
Source: Inquirer.net
Item added: 30th July 2007


Commercial launch for DVB-H service
Philippine Multi-media System, Inc (PMSI) has announced that the test broadcasts of mobile TV services using DVB-H have been successful and will be commercially launched this year. The commercial service will initially launch in Manila and then be extended to other cities. PMSI has five transmitters around metropolitan Manila and intends to eventually increase coverage nationwide. The service will be named Dream TV which is already a brand name used by PMSI.
Main Source: IBE
Item added: 21st June 2007



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

DVB-H trial service for Manila
Smart Communications recently announced that it would start a pilot DVB-H trial service in Manila.
Smart’s test broadcast service will initially be available in Metero Manilla, Cebu and Davao. Nine channels including 24-hour news channels CNN, BBC World and CNBC; a sports channel, Basketball TV; leisure and entertainment channels; and music channel MTV, will be offered. The pilot is planned to start on March 11th 2007 with commercial operations commencing later this year.
Source: Manila Bulletin Online
Item added: 13th March 2007

Various DTT trials take place in the Philippines
DVB-T and DVB-H are being tested in various parts of the Philippines to assess their potential.
ABS-CBN is testing DVB-T in San Fernando, Pampanga on channels 50 and 51 with 3 programs each.
  DVB-H is also being tested by ABC5 in Manila on channel 47 and GV Broadcasting and GMA7 are also planning to test DVB-H in Manila.
Source: Local correspondent
Item added: 30th January 2007

Philippines chooses DVB-T
21 November 2006
The DVB Project has welcomed the recent publication by the Philippines' National Telecommunications Commission of a draft set of Rules and Regulations for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcast Service mandating the use of DVB-T as the sole digital terrestrial television broadcasting standard for the Philippines. Section 2.1 of the draft Memorandum Circular states: "The Digital Video Broadcast - Terrestrial (DVB-T) standard shall be the sole standard in the delivery of DTT services in the country."

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the Philippines' telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, and the draft Memorandum Circular, containing the choice of DVB-T and several provisions for the launch of DVB-T services in the Philippines, comes after deliberations in a cross industry grouping entitled the Technical Working Group on Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting. The group examined the alternatives such as ATSC and ISDB and recommended DVB-T because it offered "advantages in terms of terrestrial transmission/networking, interoperability with other technology applications, proven capability for mobile terrestrial reception, its ability to satisfactorily address the multipath/ghosting problem, and its capability to support single frequency networks."

Mr. Armand C. Ursal, President of SBETP (Society of Broadcast Television Engineers of the Philippines), Vice-Chairman of the Technical Working Group on Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting, and Director of the Association of Broadcasters in the Philippines (KBP) stated: "Our deliberations took into account many elements, and apart from the technical advantages of DVB-T, the current deployment of DTT systems show that DVB-T is emerging as the global preference, with far more countries having adopted, or in the process of adopting the DVB platform, thus ensuring equipment availability and enhancing affordability. Indeed, comments submitted by various sections to the NTC have made the same recommendation."

Peter MacAvock, Executive Director of the DVB Project, said: "The Philippines recommendation for DVB-T represents an important milestone for DTT. With the importance of end-user equipment cost paramount, the endorsement of DVB-T by a large 6MHz country like the Philippines paves the way for other 6MHz countries to choose DVB-T. We will work with the industry in the Philippines to smooth the rollout of DTT services there and hope that the decision influences countries such as Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina making their DTT standard choices shortly."

The relevant documents can be accessed using the links below.

The DVB Press Release related to this story can be downloaded here. Versions in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese are also available.

Philippines choose DVB-T for Digital Terrestrial TV
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) have announced that the Philippines will use the DVB-T standard for its future Digital Terrestrial Television services. The news was released in a draft regulations document which gives television broadcast companies nine years or until Dec. 31st 2015 to make the transition from Analogue to Digital transmission. However the transition period may change either way depending on prevailing market conditions. It will also be up to individual broadcasters to decide if they wish to transmit HDTV on their allocated spectrum or multiple channels using SDTV.
According to reports the Associated Broadcasting Corp. (ABC-5) has already applied to the NTC to be allowed to conduct DTT test broadcasts.
Source: ABS-CBN Interactive
Item added: 8th November 2006

TV to Mobile Phones might be the key to Digital TV in the Philippines
Phone maker Nokia is looking at offering television via its new line of cellular phone models soon to be launched in the Philippines according to an article in the Manila Bulletin Online.
Parikshit Bhasin country manager for Nokia said that "Nokia has yet to hold negotiations with Philippine-based broadcasting companies".
The service would use the DVB-H system which is part of the DVB range of digital broadcasting specifications now used in most countries of the world. 
The Philippines have yet to decide on a digital terrestrial standard for television broadcasting but if mobile TV gets a hold then using DVB-T as the main standard for broadcasting to the home would be most cost effective and technically the easiest to implement.
Main source: Manila Online
Item added: 15th August 2005  

DTT Policy in the Philippines
Studies have been carried out since the year 2000 on migration from analogue to digital. A 'wait and see' policy is being followed, monitoring developments with no urgency to proceed with digital TV services. Source: ABU Technical Committee, Annual Meeting, 20-23 September 2004.

Last page update: 22nd December 2008, Barry Tew