Analogue switch-off in Russia is likely to be delayed by up to three years.
Quoted by Telecom Daily and Interfax, Mikhail Seslavinskiy, the head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, said that it could now only happen at the turn of 2018/2019, rather than 2016, as had previously been planned.
The transition to digital broadcastring has beeen under way for a number of years and in 2015 Prime Ministry Dmitry Medvedev extended the federal target programme, previously set at 2009-2015, to 2018. The delay has ben put down to the economic problems facing the country.
Although Russia’s first and second multiplxes now cover 92% and 85% of the country respectively, these are only nominal figures as not all the transmitters have been built.
While the ASO delay continues, so the pay-TV penetration in Russia, estimated at 73% as of the first half of this year, increases.
