Brazil's Ministry of Communications has officially published the new schedule for digital TV deployment.
Most cities and regions won't switch-off the analogue signal until 2018, as several institutions have agreed that the country's infrastructure is not ready for doing so before. Only Brasilia, the capital, will migrated to DTT during 2016, although the city and its region will wait until after the Olympics.
Formally, the process will start by switching off analogue TV on 15 February in the pilot city of Río Verde.
After Brasilia in October this year, the largest cities in the south (including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) will switch off analogue signals during 2017. The rest of the country will wait until 2018, when the switchover deadline is scheduled.
“We have local elections and the Olympics this year, and new elections and another sports event in 2018. These events need free-to-air TV,” said Roberto Pinto, head of electronic communications, Ministry of Communications.
The published document also states how society will be informed about the process and coverage guarantees, saying that no switch-off will take place unless 93% of homes have the necessary technology to receive the DTT signal.
Source: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/2016012741525/brazil-restructures-dtt-plan.html#axzz3yQy6X65r