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The Evolution of the Digital Era

The Evolution of the Digital Era

From analogue to digital era!

September 2009
The first Switch-off in the country
The first Switch-off in the country takes place when the Transmitter Site "Xylokastro" switches from analogue to digital signal. The digital era has now begun!
Until 2013
An additional 12 Transmission Centers
12 more digital Transmitter Sites are activated across the country, at Chortiatis, Filippeio, Hymettus, Aegina, Plaka, Monte Smith, Dovroutsi, Akarnanika, Aroi, Rogdia, Malaxa and Petalidi, providing access to the digital terrestrial television signal of commercial TV Channels to more than 70% of the population (1).
February 2014
A new era begins
Digea is declared the sole successful bidder for all spectrum usage rights for national and regional coverage. Television in Greece enters a new era, aiming to fully develop a new digital terrestrial network. The transition to the new digital era is planned to take place in six successive switch-offs, each in a specific geographic area in Greece, with a corresponding termination of the analogue signal transmission (1).
June 2014 to January 2015
Covering an increasingly large part of the population
90 additional Transmitter Sites go live across Greece, further developing Digea’s digital terrestrial network and servicing an ever-increasing part of the country’s population.
February 2015
Activation of an additional 53 Emission Centers
The 6th and final switch-off step takes place in Southeastern Greece and Crete, activating an additional 53 Transmitter Sites and completing the project of the terrestrial television transition from analogue to digital signal.

Within a year we completed the transition to the digital era!

With 156 Transmitters Sites (2) using DVB-T technology, 96% of the country’s population has now access to digital signal and Greece is officially entering the digital era!

The Evolution of the Digital Era
February 2016
Signal transmission in high definition
We took the first steps towards High Definition television when we began broadcasting HD signal from 23 Transmitter Sites.
November 2020
Launch of the 2nd Digital Switchover
The 2nd Digital Transition begins, moving our broadcasts to the final, internationally allocated frequencies, in accordance with the European directives (3), and extending High Definition signal coverage for the commercial national TV channels to all designated areas.
October 2021
Completion of the 2nd Digital Switchover
The project of the 2nd Digital Transition is completed across the country in less than 11 months.

Glancing into the future….

 

Television viewing experience is changing and evolving.

The transition to digital terrestrial television continues to change television viewing experience, driven by innovation and advanced technology.

We have introduced digital terrestrial technologies that can now provide flexibility, quality and choice.

The quality of video and audio is constantly evolving. The ongoing advances in encoding and compressing technology make it possible to broadcast in higher quality, such as High Definition (HD) or even Ultra High Definition (UHD) in the future. At the same time, the next generation terrestrial broadcasting standard, DVB-T2, will further increase network capacity and allow for the introduction of even more new services.

Complementary technologies, such as hybrid television (HbbTV), are being developed and bring new options to the digital terrestrial platform, making access to digital online and on-demand services easier.

Even though the adoption of these new technologies varies across countries, it is clear that the digital terrestrial television platform is and will remain at the forefront of innovation, as it continues to offer significant benefits to the viewers and technology users.

Within a year we completed the transition to the digital era!
With 156 Transmitters Sites (2) using DVB-T technology, 96% of the country’s population has now access to digital signal and Greece is officially entering the digital era!

Bibliography

(1) JMD 21161/12-8-2008, G.G. 1680/Β’/20-8-2008, article 14 of Law 3592/18-7-2007, G.G. 161/Α’/19-7-2007

(2) JMD 42800/05-10-2012, G.G. 2704/Β’/5-10-2012

(3) JMD 716-003/30-04-2014, Resolution 2017/899 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017, JMD 18/2020, G.G. Β’ 1752, 7/5/2020, Decision EETT 951/01/2020, G.G. Β’ 3725, 7/9/2020, JMD 22176, G.G. Β’ 3011, 8/7/2021, GG 36/2021, 30/09/2021, Decision EETT 1019/01 G.G. Β΄148, 20/01/2022