The Dutch government aims to take a decision in early 2015 on the future of the Dutch digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) services.
The current DVB-T licences will expire on January 31, 2017. Dutch public broadcaster NPO holds the licence for the free-to-air distribution of the three national public networks, while KPN holds the Digitenne licence.
Digitenne operates an encrypted service with 25 channels and a number of radio stations. The regional public broadcasters broadcast a free-to-air signal in their respective footprints. There is a total of five nationwide muxes available.
The Dutch ministry of economic affairs has now started a public consultation on the future of the DTT services in the country with the aim of reaching a decision in the first half of 2015.
DVB-T in the Netherlands uses the UHF bands IV and V (470-790 MHz), but the 700 MHz band (694-790 MHz) might be designated for mobile broadband. In that case, just three of the current five multiplexes would remain available.
All Dutch terrestrial broadcasts now use DVB-T and introduction of DVB-T2 would make all current receivers obsolete.
Earlier this year, KPN said it wants to continue the Digitenne service at least until the end of the current license.
