From today, it is exactly 600 days to go to analogue satellite switch-off on April 30, 2012. From that day on all German channels, both public and private, will be broadcast in digital format only.
A special project office has been established by the various parties, called klardigital 2012, that will help people transfer to digital.
The first act is to establish a simple service, where people receiving satellite TV, can easliy check wheter they have analogue or digiatl reception.
Households with satellite reception can carry out a simple test by calling up videotext page 198 on one of the following channels: ARD, ProSieben, RTL, SAT.1, ZDF or BR. If a message appears indicating future termination of analogue satellite transmissions, then the satellite reception is analog. Otherwise, a message confirming digital reception will appear. In that case there is no need to act.
Approximately one third of all households which receive satellite transmissions in Germany are affected. In rural areas in particular analog satellite systems are in widespread use. Accordsing to the latest research 79.1% of all German stalellite homes already receive digital.
Cable TV, DVB-T and IPTV viewers are not directly affected, said klardigital 2012.
