Rough path to digital waves
(From The Japan Times August 12 issue)

デジタル化実現への険しい道のり

Three years from now, the era of analog TV broadcasting will end as digital broadcasting begins. A survey shows that 92 percent of those polled know there will be a switch from analog to digital broadcasting, but fewer people know when the switch will take place (65 percent) or are aware of the need to buy new equipment (52 percent).

The government should not only push public relations for the switch to prevent confusion among TV viewers but also take adequate measures to help financially strapped people who cannot purchase digital TV sets.

As of March, 43.3 percent of the nation's households had TV sets that could receive digital terrestrial broadcasting. Some households will resist throwing away still usable analog TV sets and will choose to use digital-analog converters. The government has requested electronics makers to accelerate development of converters whose price will be around ¥5,000.

The government plans to distribute converters free of charge to households that receive livelihood assistance. These households on welfare number about 1.07 million. Some members of the government's information and communications panel think the government should also take into consideration the households of pensioners.

The government also should think about other low-income households such as households headed by disabled people. It should consider expanding the category of households that deserve to receive converters free of charge.

The government also needs to find out whether common antennas of apartment houses can receive digital waves, and take necessary measures if they cannot. About 7.7 million households in apartments rely on such antennas. In addition, tall buildings hurt reception for about 6.5 million households. The government should consider measures for their antennas.

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry estimates that in July 2011, when TV broadcasts will be fully digitized, up to 350,000 households will be in poor reception areas. The path toward digitization does not appear smooth.

テレビ放送の完全デジタル化を約3年後に控えた今、政府は広報に努めるだけでなく、デジタルテレビへの買い替えが困難な家庭に対処すべきだ。

3月現在、地デジテレビ放送対応受信機の普及率は43.3％、アナログテレビへのチューナー接続を選ぶ人も多いだろう。政府は生活保護107万世帯にチューナーを無料配布する予定だが、対象を年金受給者世帯に拡大せよという声もある。障害者世帯など低所得層への検討も必要だ。マンションなど集合住宅の共同アンテナの地上デジタル波受信状況や高層ビルによる難視聴実態を調査し、対処することが求められる。

完全デジタル化への道は険しい。