German cable operator Unitymedia will switch off the analogue TV channels on its cable network in five regional steps between June 1 and 30, 2017.
Analogue switch-off will commence in the southern part of federal state Baden-Württemberg on June 1 with the northern part to follow on June 6. The cable network in Hessen will be fully digitised on June 13.
In North-Rhine Westphalia, analogue-switch off will take place in the southern part on June 20 and in the northern part on June 27. The timetable was announced at a workshop in Stuttgart today.
“The digitisation degree on Unitymedia’s network currently amounts to around 90% – and continues to rise,” said Christian Hindennach, Senior Vice President Consumer at Unitymedia. “In Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North-Rhine Westphalia, a total of around 640.000 households still watch analogue TV. To comprehensively inform our customers and consumers about all steps, we will intensify our information campaign about digital TV in the coming months.”
Unitymedia wants to use the vacated capacities for the extension of its digital TV line-up, new HD channels and high-speed internet. The Liberty Global subsidiary plans to launch 1Gbps internet access in the first city within its footprint based on DOCSIS 3.1 later this year.
