Former president of Korea Broadcasting Engineers and Technicians Association Lee Jae Myung spoke about the current state and future course of major broadcasters converting to digital broadcasting in 2013 at the Korea Digital Broadcasting Equipment Pavilion
Last August 30, the Korea Communications Commission announced that 4:00 December 31 2012 would be conclusion of analog TV broadcasting. This announcement was made to ensure that viewers and broadcaster could get ready for the digital convert without any setbacks. Regarding this issue, Korean IT Times was able to meet former president of Korea Broadcasting Engineers and Technicians Association (KBETA) Lee Jae Myung.
Establishment of DTV Korea
On October 30, 2008 Korea Communications Commission-affiliated DTV Korea was established by the funding of the Korea Communications Commission, KBS, MBC, SBS, EBS and Digital TV manufacturers; Samsung, LG, and DTV equipment companies. DTV Korea has been working to promote various activities in order to accelerate the convertion to digital broadcasting. DTV Korea has advertised the convergence, held a joint research on the actual conditions of DTV reception with the Korea Communications Commission, and the economic support of the neglected class. You can find more specific information on DTV Korea's website http://www.dtvkorea.org.
DTV reception
Currently, of the terrestrial broadcasters, 98% in Seoul, and 70~80% depending on the province, 85% in total are able to digitally broadcast. The government is planning to fully digitalize the entire analog stations (1,234 in total) and build more digital stations for the areas with poor reception.. The government is planning to digitalize and build the digital stations by 2013 and convert to digital broadcasting.
Households with DTV reception equipment was 61.0% in the first half of 2010 and has increased 21.3% compared to 2008's 38.7%
Supplying DTV Broadcasting equipment
In order to receive DTV, one may purchase a DTV equipped with a terrestrial HDTV tuner, install a settop box, or for the analog TV use an Analog Converter. In order to keep pace with the digital conversion in 2013, DTV Korea, with government funding, is manufacturing and supplying low cost equipment but the program has not been widely publicized.
Publicity
Starting from 2007, DTV was promoted using TV ads, educating TV sales administration, and using contacts at broadcasting stations. Recognition of the DTV conversion has increased to 73.2% in 2010 compared to the 47.8% in 2008, but still has a long way to go. Lee Jae Myung former president of KBETA says that in order to convert to DTV without any problems occurring, early publicity is the priority, and despite being a national policy, he feels they should allocate more funding to spend on marketing.
Example Cases
The Korean Communications Commission chose Uljin-gun, Gangjin-gun, Danyang-gun, and Jeju Island as demonstrative digital conversion areas last September, and provided them free digital converters and Digital TV subsidization in order for the residents in the area to watch digital TV without any inconvenience. Accordingly, Uljin-gun, ended their analog TV broadcast for the first time in Korea on 2pm September 1 2010 and converted to digital broadcasting. Gwangjin-gun will end their analog broadcasting start digital broadcasting on October 6 2pm, Danyang on November 3, and Jeju Island on June 29 2011.
