Is Australia switching from analog TV to digital TV like the USA?

Question

Is Australia switching from analog TV to digital TV like the USA?

Answer 1

Probably Wanna Visit:

The UK and Europe are also in the process of doing so as well.

Call me cynical if you like:  However, they will be able to put GNS tracking in the sets to spy on their citizens.

This is probably the reason for the big hulla baloo.

Answer 2

Officially yes.   In fact officially we should have switched over at the start of the new millenium.   Like Americans though, Australians are not too fussed about shelling out a few thousand dollars for a new TV set (or even a few hundred for a set top box) to recieve a signal that right now is good enough.   I think no matter what the government's plans, we won't completely switch over until there is some sort of critical mass first.   I don't see the Analogue signal disappearing completely within the next 10 years, or successive governments might find they have no audience to pander to at federal elections.

Answer 3

Yes, the state capitals commenced digital broadcasts in 2001, with regional areas subsequently following. The current plan has analogue transmissions ending in 2013.

Viewer take-up was slow at first, but is now gaining pace. The slow start was due to the technology's initial lack of significant benefit to the majority of viewers who have small standard definition sets. However, viewer interest is now increasing due to regulatory amendments lifting the earlier genre restrictions and allowing all networks to broadcast multiple channels.

By the way, Australia uses the DVB-T standard for digital TV broadcasting, which is incompatible with the ATSC standard used in the USA.

Answer 4

digital television has been running in australia since 2001 but the uptake of the new technology has been slow and analogue television is also still running. the current plan is to cease analogue transmissions around 2012/2013

Answer 5

Yes, but they keep making the final cutoff date later though all free to air channels are already transmitting in digital and have been for some time. We installed a set top box late last year and it's fantastic, but we had always had terrible analogue reception at our place. Digital is perfect on every channel.

Answer 6

I've been getting a digital signal, in QLD, since Aug 2006  when I got myself a Digital PVR.

However, in my area, the digital reception is not always perfect.  We get sporadic glitches in reception, and a word or two gets lost.  This does not happen in analogue.  However the digital picture is much better.

Answer 7

Yes.  The current plan is to switch over by 2013, and by December 2009 in metropolitan areas.