Romania has decided to cancel a current DTT tender and will definitely put back its ASO date by three years.
According to Media Expres, the government has published a Hotarare (‘Decision’), numbered 833, in which it has clarified a number of points related to its transition to digital broadcasting.
Significantly, it speaks of “the obligations of the Romanian government in relations with the ITU” rather than with the EU in regards to putting back the ASO date from January 1, 2012 to January 1, 2015.
It also says that the deadline for the first two multiplexes reaching 95% of the population will, now be December 31, 2015, with all TVs sold in Romania having DVB-T MPEG-4 decoders by January 1, 2015.
The actual transition is likely to start in 2014, with the first two multiplexes covering 60% of the population and 50% of the territory by mid-year. A tender for four further multiplexes will be held after January 15, 2015. With the current tender being cancelled, the regulator ANCOM will reimburse the participants the fees they have paid to obtain the terms of tender.
Separately, it has been reported that the transmission company Radiocom will borrow over RON60 million (€14.1million) to help pay off its VAT debts and refinance previous loans. This should help the company put itself in a better financial position before the transition to digital broadcasting restarts.
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