The Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) re-approved the program for switching over from analog terrestrial television to digital terrestrial television. The Government is to agree the program, while Parliament is to make amendments to the Broadcasting Code so as to allow the BCC to issue licenses for broadcasting program services in a digital format. “We are waiting for these important documents,” the Council’s chairman Dinu Ciocan has told IPN.
Under the plan of action for implementing the Association Agreement, in the first quarter of 2015 the BCC must approve the regulations concerning the conditions for holding the contest for issuing licenses for digital television. “We de jure approved the draft regulations and submitted them to the interested sides, including civil society, so that proposals are made for improving them. The regulations will be approved in the final version after the Government and Parliament adopt those documents,” stated Dinu Ciocan.
Under the Geneva Convention, the transition from analog terrestrial television to digital one must take place by June 17. Dinu Ciocan said three national multiplexes will be built by the end of 2017. The first was already set up and is being tested by the state-run enterprise “Radiocomunicatii”. After this multiplex is put into operation, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology will make an announcement about the contest to distribute the 15 slots of the multiplex, while the BCC will announce the contest. Applications will be collected within 30 days. The BCC is to hold the contest within 20 days of the deadline for submissions and to choose the channels that will occupy the slots of the first multiplex. A condition is that the slots from the first multiplex must be given to broadcasters that are controlled by the Moldovan constitutional authorities.
The chairman of the BCC noted that after digital television is implemented, the TV channels working in analog regime will not be closed, but some of the analog circuits used by the current broadcasters will be modified as a part of them interfere with the frequencies used in the neighboring states and with the frequencies that will be used to convey the digital signal. A part of the TV channels will have to stop using particular frequencies. Frequency changes will be made in relation to about 30 broadcasters, which were already informed about this.
To be able to receive the signal of digital television, those who have old TV sets without a special device incorporated could purchase this device from specialized shops.
