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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) today (January 7) reported that digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast has no bearing on the interference of analogue television services, after investigating over half of the public complaints received since the launch of DTT services on December 31, 2007.
The investigations were carried out by this office in the past four days in response to public concern about suspected interference by DTT of analogue TV signals following the simulcasting of the two services.
A spokesman for OFTA said, "Up till January 6, 2008, this office has received 72 complaints suspecting that the analogue television reception of individual households has been suffering interference caused by DTT signals. We immediately contacted the complainants concerned and have successfully arranged on-site investigations at complainants' addresses for over half of the complaints received in the past four days. Our investigation results have shown that none of the investigated cases was attributable to DTT signals."
"In fact, up to around 80% of the investigated cases were found to have normal reception of analogue television services during our investigations. Poor reception of analogue television services was confirmed in five cases and they were all caused by faults of the recently upgraded communal aerial systems of the complainants' buildings. We have already provided technical advice to the complainants to help fix the problem. We will continue to contact the complainants for the rest of the cases to provide our technical advice or assistance as necessary," the spokesman elaborated.
"This office receives from time to time requests of assistance from the general public on poor reception of free-to-air television services. With the launch of DTT broadcast, some complainants may associate their poor television reception with the newly launched services. However, as substantiated by the findings of our investigations, all of the poor reception cases are proved to be isolated incidents resulting from faults of the recently upgraded communal aerial systems," the spokesman emphasised.
"The DTT broadcasting network is designed in such a way that it will not adversely affect the analogue counterpart or vice versa. Although the DTT services were officially launched on December 31, 2007, the two free-to-air television broadcasters had started the transmission of DTT signals from the Temple Hill DTT station as early as July 2007. Based on the field measurements conducted by OFTA and the two broadcasters during the six-month trial, the simultaneous reception of both digital and analogue television services has been satisfactory in the DTT coverage area," the spokesman added.
"To ensure their compliance with the specifications prescribed by OFTA with regard to the upgrade of communal aerial systems for the reception of DTT, over 20 briefing sessions had already been held for building management offices, incorporated owners and contractors of communal aerial systems since August 2007. We plan to hold more such briefings in the coming months to impress upon contractors of communal aerial systems in particular the way to upgrade the systems for receiving DTT signals," the spokesman continued.
"Members of the public who have problems of television reception may seek technical assistance from the contactors of communal aerial systems via building management or incorporated owners. If the problem persists, they may call the enquiry hotline of OFTA at 2961 6333 during office hours for technical advice," the spokesman said.
Ends/Monday, January 7, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:07
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