Swiss public broadcaster SRG will terminate digital terrestrial TV broadcasting (DVB-T) next year without replacement. There will be no transition to DVB-T2 as in neighbouring Germany and Austria.
The DTT closedown is included in the new SRG concession recently granted by the Swiss Federal Council and part of cost-saving measures.
“SRG currently operates slightly more than 200 DVB-T transmitters. In Switzerland, however, only around 1.9% of households still use DVB-T, primarily for TV reception on second or third devices,” an SRG spokesman told German industry news service golem.de. “We estimate that a total of around 64,000 primary households will be affected by the switch-off.”
SRG recommends opting for DTH satellite reception as an alternative: “The reception quality is significantly better than with DVB-T as the channels are available in HD quality. As with DVB-T, no subscription is required.”
SRG’s TV and radio channels are broadcast on Eutelsat’s Hotbird satellite system (13° East). A smartcard available to Swiss citizens living in Switzerland or abroad is required to receive the domestic TV channels as they are encrypted for copyright reasons.
SRG’s TV channels are broadcast in HD quality via Hotbird; SD transmissions were terminated at the beginning of 2016.
