The combined German media authorities have given their support to the adoption of the DVB-T2 standard in the country.
At the moment, around four million households in Germany receive digital terrestrial television, with around half of them using it as the main way of receiving television. After satellite DTH and cable DTT is the third most used platform. In some urban areas DTT usage accounts for 26% of TV reception.
At a recent meeting in Lübeck, the so-called Conference of Directors of the State Media Authorities (DLM) have now called to begin preparations for an upgrade to DVB-T2.
Public broadcaster ARD has already announced the transition to DVB-T2 from 2016 onwards. The DLM emphasised that now private broadcasters also should express their ideas on the future of terrestrial broadcasting.
The transition to DVB-T might provide an opportunity to satisfy the spectrum requirements of other services, such as mobile communications. But, according to the DLM, spectrum can only be released after an assessment of how the new standard will be accepted by the audience.
For a period of at least two years from the launch of DVB-T2, the currently available spectrum should be kept open for broadcast purposes.
