ANGA CABLE 2009 – COLOGNE. Germany needs an analogue switch-off date in order to speed up the digitalization process.
“Germany is the only country that has no fixed switch off date,” said SES Astra CEO Ferdinand Kayser during the ‘elephants session’ this morning. “Now we see a situation, where people are questioning when they can switch off. The result is that we only see this day moving ahead.”
Originally, an ASO date for satellite was envisaged to happen in 2010, but because public and commercial broadcasters are waiting for each other this date is in danger of not being met. “If the speed of digitalization goes at the current speed, we will see an end in 2016 or 2017, which is not acceptable.”
Currently, there are still 5 million analogue satellite homes in Germany.
