On August 31, Decree Nr. 1148 creates the Argentine System of Digital Terrestrial Television, which consists of a series of technological standards to be adopted for the transmission and reception of terrestrial digital signals to broadcast audio and video.
By facilitating the access to digital technology, the system intends to promote social inclusion, cultural diversity and the national language as well as the democratization of information. Furthermore, it intends to stimulate R&D and to expand Argentine technologies and industries related to the information and communication areas, to plan the transition from analog to digital TV in order to guarantee the gradual and free adhesion of all the population to the new system, to optimize the use of the radioelectric spectrum, to contribute to the technological convergence, to enhance audio, video and service quality, to encourage the local production of digital instruments and services and to promote job creation in the technological industry.
The above mentioned decree creates the Argentine Advisory Board of the Digital Terrestrial Television inside the Ministry of Planning, Public Investment and Services, as well as a Consulting Forum to provide an interface between the national government and the private sector.
A plan to deploy 46 public TV retransmission stations and to provide decoders, with a great deal of national components, is currently in process of development. These retransmission stations will be located in all provincial capital cities and in other major cities in the country. Though they will receive information from Public TV in Buenos Aires, negotiations are being held with all Business Chambers and Associations related to the system in order to maximize the national contents and to encourage argentine technological development.
The Argentine Ministry of Planning, Public Investment and Services entrusted ARSAT and INVAP to execute this ambitious plan.
