Press Release

OFTA Reports No Interference between Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Services and Analogue Television Services after Investigations

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) today (7 January 2008) reported that digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast has no bearing on the interference of analogue television services, after conducting investigation into over half of the public complaints received since the launch of DTT services on 31 December 2007.

The investigations were carried out by this office in the past four days in responding to public concern about the suspected interference between DTT and analogue TV signals following the simulcasting of the two services.

"Up till 6 January 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, " a spokesperson of OFTA said.

"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 spokesperson 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 spokesperson emphasized.

"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 31 December 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 spokesperson 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 of such briefings in the coming months to impress upon contractors of communal aerial system in particular the way to upgrade the systems for receiving DTT signals," continued the spokesperson.

"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 spokesperson said.

Office of the Telecommunications Authority
7 January 2008