More than 400,000 homes in Spain are no longer able to watch the channels Telecinco, Antena 3, Cuatro, La Sexta and Telemadrid terrestially.
El Economista reports that this follows the end of simulcasting at midnight on the night of October 6/7 in the Community of Madrid and in large areas of the Autonomous Communities of Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Valencia, Alicante, Castellón and Ciudad Real.
It adds that the homes in question have not yet switched their reception equipment ahead of the freeing up of frequencies in the so-called Second Digital Dividend for 5G services.
According to data from the Secretary of State for Telecommunications, referring to Madrid, at the end of July there were about 27,000 installations still pending adaptation to the Second Digital Dividend (23.30% of the total).
The adaptation of reception equipment started in July 2019 and in the last 15 months installers have converted collective antennas in 850,000 building housing over 20 million people, or almost half the Spanish population.
In the Community of Madrid, according to Telemadrid, the adaptation has affected 112,000 collective buildings in which 4.78 million people live.
The end of simulcasting is being undertaken in three phases, with the first having taken place on the night of September 30/October 1 and the final one scheduled for October 13/14.
