Under the national programme ‘Transmission and Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Digitisation by 2020’, Da Nang is one of the centrally-governed 5 cities which has been selected for ending analogue terrestrial broadcasting by late 2015 as the switchover to digital television begins.  The city has been asked to have the terrestrial analogue TV switched off by late in this second quarter, 6 months ahead of schedule as compared with the remaining 4 cities: Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and Hai Phong.

A digital TV equipped with STB

Reporter Trieu Tung from the Da Nang Newspaper recently had an interview with the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, Mr Nguyen Hoang Cam, to gather further information about the project.

Mr Cam said that, according to the State’s regulations, households across the country living below or near the national poverty threshold, along with poor social policy families, will be provided with free-of-charge digital compatible devices, known as set top boxes (STBs), which decode digital TV signals.

In Da Nang, there are now 14,506 families living below or near the city’s poverty threshold, along with 34 poor social policy families.  Hence, 7.27 billion VND will be spent on providing STBs to these beneficiaries. Of this, 5.47 billion VND will come from the city’s budget, whilst the remainder will be granted from the central government’s budget.

Mr Cam also said that STBs are now being sold at electronics stores on some local streets including Dao Duy Tu, Ly Thai To and Trung Nu Vuong.  These devices are sourced from companies including VTV Broadcom, Hung Viet Company, and VTC and AVG digital television stations.  STBs are now priced at between 380,000 and 900,000 VND.  Chinese-made devices are being sold at only 380,000 to 420,000 VND, but they do not meet the STB standards and regulations.  Digital televisions with the ‘Digital Compatible’ logo are already equipped with STBs.