Ministry defends subsidized credit to implement TV 3.0 – 04/01/2024 – Market

The Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, defends the offer of a subsidized line of credit so that television stations can adapt to the so-called TV 3.0, the next stage of evolution after the migration from the analogue system to the digital.

This Wednesday (3), the ministry will present at an event what the new technology promises to offer, such as an increase in image (from 4k to 8k, against the current full HD of open digital channels) and sound, in addition to interactivity, with the possibility, for example, of making purchases on open TV using the remote control.

The ministry’s expectation is that the technology chosen for the new model will be announced by the end of the year, the Japanese Advanced ISDB-T or the North American ATSC 3.0.

In 2006, during Lula’s (PT) first term, the Japanese were chosen to implement digital TV in the country, a process that has not yet been completed.

In December, the government extended the deadline for ending analogue free-to-air TV broadcasts in more than a thousand cities until June 2025.

“TV 3.0 is an evolution of digital TV. It is an even more technological television, with more tools, innovations, it is open TV with much better image quality, with 4K, 8k qualities, with immersive sound, which is the sound that you see in a movie theater, for example”, says Juscelino Filho.

“One of the big news is precisely the issue of interactivity. You will have a connected television. For example, an advertisement came on and you became interested in that product. You will be able to search on the screen itself and buy, just like on a computer screen.”

The model also promises the possibility for open TV stations to segment their programming and advertising in a more sophisticated way.

Just as is currently the case with Smart TVs in relation to video streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the model will lead to free-to-air TV no longer using channel numbers and being accessed through applications installed on TVs.

In an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico published at the beginning of March, Globo’s CEO, Paulo Marinho, stated that the new format “breaks down the barriers between TV and the digital universe” and that the company will join and invest in TV 3.0 .

Highlighting the two decades of migration from the analogue system to the digital, the ministry does not establish a deadline for implementing TV 3.0 or when the first locations will have access to the new model.

In addition to defining the new technological standard, there is also a discussion about the sources of financing that TV stations will need to implement the new technology, such as the purchase of new equipment and transmission lines.

“We know the importance of this innovation, but at the same time it needs a lot of investment for this to become a reality. There is no provision today in credit lines for communication systems to invest in this, so this is a discussion that we intend to open internally with government development banks, such as BNDES, and regional banks”, says the minister.

The Ministry’s Electronic Social Communication Secretary, Wilson Diniz Wellisch, stated that there are also conversations with IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) in this regard.

According to the Ministry of Communications, there are currently grants in the country to 677 digital TV generators (broadcasters that produce programming) and 16,072 to retransmitters of these channels, in addition to 117 broadcasters and 4,800 retransmitters that still use the analogue standard.

The final decision to choose the technology, Japanese or North American, will be made by President Lula.

Currently, the Brazilian Digital TV System Forum (SBTVD) —formed by representatives of the government and broadcasting and transmission companies, those that manufacture TVs and receivers— is technically coordinating the process that will indicate the technology to be used.

Discussions for the implementation of TV 3.0 began in 2021, under the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

In addition to Japanese and North American technologies, the ministry states that there is still a possibility that the European 5G Broadcast, disqualified in phase 3 of testing, could return to the running if its technology is updated in time.