The expansion of the German DTT network is progressing with new transmitters in the states of Saxony-Anhalt (serving Jena) and Thuringia. In the area of Central Germany, some 8.9 million viewers can now receive digital terrestrial broadcasts. Also, a new transmitter in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein has been brought into service.
The offer in Central Germany consists only of 12 public channels from ARD, MDR and ZDF, as RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 have no interest using terrestrial transmitters in the region. The state media authorities are now talking to other commercial broadcasters in the hope of bringing them onboard.
In related news, the German broadcaster ARD has decided to keep digital terrestrial distribution of Das Erste in the UHF band in Bavaria so that people with mobile phones with DVB-T tuners can watch the Olympic Games. In Northern Germany, NDR also plans to use a UHF multiplex for Das Erste.
Mobile phones with DVB-T tuners are only able to receive DTT signals in the UHF band, not VHF, which is used in many parts of Germany by the ARD DTT service.
