Digital television by October

KUALA LUMPUR: Digital television broadcasts or Digital Terestrial Televisyen (DTT) is set to be fully implemented throughout the country by October this year, said chairman of myFreeView Johan Ishak.

He said, so far, 15 television channels and six radio channels could be accessed through myFreeView and he expects to add four more channels soon.

“We have four broadcasters, namely Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), Media Prima Berhad, Alhijrah Media Corporation and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama). So far, for radio, there is only RTM Radio,” he said in the talkshow ‘Manfaat Televisyen Digital myFreeView Untuk Rakyat’ (Benefits of myFreeView digital television for the people) here yesterday.

Johan said the myFreeView coverage was now up to 98 per cent with 44 transmitting stations built throughout in the country.

“Broadcasts on myFreeView are free, with no hidden costs. Consumers need only pay once to buy the decoder (iDTV or MYTV (DVB-T2) decoder and pay the installation fees if you want the UHF external aerial,” he said.

Meanwhile, MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd vice-president (monitoring) Shamsul Najib Mohtar said as of March, MYTV had distributed two million free decoders to People’s Aid (BSH) recipients, especially B40 households.

“Those who want to buy the decoder sets can get them at RM187 either online or through certified sales representatives who are listed in the website http:// www.mytvbroadcasting.my,” he said.