TV purchase alert: In the digital age, HD is king,says regulator
Published:Sunday | November 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The movement globally to switch from analogue systems to digital will render some electronics obsolete in a matter of years, and the Broadcasting Commission wants Jamaicans to be alert to the changes so that they can make informed purchases.
Having now set its own timeline on when the switch-over will happen - 2015 - the commission says it will be launching a public-education campaign on the implications.
Digital switch-over (DSO) will require not only that the broadcasting sector and cable operators change their technologies within those five years, but that households switch old-fashioned TVs for new, more modern models.
"We want to alert the public that their emphasis in purchasing televisions going forward should be high definition or digital TV sets," Dr Hopeton Dunn told Sunday Business last Tuesday.
"Even if these come in fancy packages such as flat screens, the best purchase right now, even though most costly, is HD."
Dunn is charging the public to be on the lookout for manufacturers who may want to offload - dump - analogue equipment into markets that have not yet made the transition.
"Let the buyer be aware that essentially, the wisest choice right now is the HD sets because it will be more compatible with the other attachments for cable set-up."
But Dunn does not envisage any form of subsidy from Government, as has been done in the US, where the Obama administration subsidised the purchase of digital sets with US$40 coupons.
"Jamaica is in a different place than the USA economically and financially right now, and I find it hard to see Government generating the resources to subsidise the acquisition of new domestic private TV sets," he said.
"That's why we allocated a time frame over which people can transition their equipment and not necessarily sit and wait on a government subsidy, which may not come."
Two of Jamaica's cable companies are already fully digital - Flow from its market entry six years ago, and Logic One since August.
Other companies are preparing to make the transition.