Cuba advances in Implementation of Digital Television

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 9 (acn) How the digital television program in Cuba has progressed, how much progress has been made and where the main difficulties for its implementation are, were some of the topics discussed at the Mesa Redonda TV program.

Justo Moreno, general director of Radio Cuba Company, explained that since 2015 to date, they have added to the network 23 digital transmitters, 19 out of those are of standard definition and 4 of high definition.
Today, he said, 83 transmitters are installed, thus covering 60 percent of the national territory.
Moreno announced that an analogue blackout occurred in five towns in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, and the provinces of Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila and Guantánamo.
He also referred to the investment process to improve signal transmission, which will allow the expansion of sites with the possibility of transmitting the signal from regional TV centers.
He also announced that in the first half of the current year, localities in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, located in silence or mid-low level areas, will receive digital television.
Eusebio Garnier, technical director of the Cuban Television, listed a group of investments that the agency executes to replace obsolete technologies and for the acquisition of a large number of high-definition digital cameras that allow to link regional TV centers with them and improve the programs.
Recently, he said, a new study for the national information system with leading-edge technologies was put into operation, which brings greater dynamism, quality and visibility.
Luis Orlando López, head of purchasing at TRD Caribe Group, explained that after having sold a large group of decoding boxes, today the population focuses their preferences on those of high definition, which is why the sale of the standard ones came to a standstill, thus affecting the decline in prices.
López pondered the quality of LED flat-screen TVs on offer and announced the introduction in the market of new models of larger formats.
He added that for this year they tripled the purchases of antennas and accessories that will result in the quality of the signal but, he clarified, that although the contracted purchase levels are important, it cannot yet be said that the total demand is covered.
The introduction on the market of a remote control that can be used in both decoder boxes and TVs that are marketed in the network of stores in the country was a topic also dealt in the program.
The terrestrial television digitization program that began in 2012 has since made significant progress and is expected to conclude in 2021 with the analogue blackout.