Austria wants to commence the planned full transition of its digital terrestrial television (DTT) distribution system from DVB-T to successor standard DVB-T2 in autumn 2016.
Media authority KommAustria has started a tender for the oldest DTT operation permission from the year 2006 which expires on August 1, 2016.
The transition which is to be completed in autumn 2019 by the latest will enable more channels, higher picture quality, HDTV services and improved mobile reception. However, viewers need new reception devices as the currently used DVB-T receivers are not suitable for DVB-T2 reception.
The tender covers the operation of the nationwide DTT multiplexes A and B which carry the following TV channels: ORF eins, ORF 2, ORF III, ORF Sport+, ATV, Puls 4 and Servus TV as well as SchauTV in Vienna.
The commercial DTT platform simpliTV which launched in April 2013 already uses the DVB-T2 standard for the transmission of its 30 TV channels.
The tender runs until November 26, 2014.
