Ukraine’s National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has announced the country’s analogue TV signal will be switched off as of today, and will be replaced by the digital one.
“The Cabinet of Ministers by Resolution No. 509 dated 13th June, 2018, amended the plan for the use of Ukraine’s radio frequency resource regarding the timing of the use of analogue TV broadcasting technology. So, on 31st August 2018, analogue TV signal will be switched off across the country,” the Council said in a statement.
However, analogue broadcasting will be available until 31st December in the areas bordering Russia, as well as being used by the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and local television companies that do not have digital licenses.
According to Yuriy Artemenko, about 40 per cent of analogue transmitters will be in operation until the end of 2018. “As of July 1, 2018, there were 1,881 analog transmitters in operation without taking into account the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the occupied territories [in Donbas, eastern Ukraine]. Sixty transmitters were turned off on 1st August in Kyiv and Kirovohrad regions,” he said.
It’s expected that 1,063 transmitters will be completely switched off on 1st September completely.
There are about five million households in Ukraine using analogue terrestrial TV (37.5 per cent of all the users). According to experts, most of them have access to other ways of receiving a signal.
