The Belgian national telecom regulator BIPT has asked the Supreme Court to declare the Flemish analogue switch-off plan null and void. The plan is to switch off all analogue broadcasts to make way for more DTT multiplexes in the country. At the moment, the Flemish public broadcaster VRT operates only one single multiplex. The issue is one of competence: broadcasting is regulated by the Flemish and Walloon governments for each of the two parts of the country, but the distribution of frequencies is regulated on a national level by the BIPT. Should the court give the telecom regulator its way, the plans for expanding the Flemish DTT offer will be delayed.
