Belarus is switching to digital television broadcasting today

Belarus will switch to terrestrial digital television broadcasting on May 15.

"The symbolic full transition to terrestrial digital television broadcasting will be carried out on May 15, 2015, when analog terrestrial television broadcasting in the decimeter wave range will be discontinued at the last 10 facilities, including the country's main radio and television transmitting station in Kolodishchi," the Ministry of Communications explained.

The first disconnections in the country were carried out on August 1, 2013, when analog terrestrial television transmitters in the decimeter wave range were turned off in the settlement of Osipovichi. In total, analog broadcasting has been discontinued at 32 facilities (76%) during this period.

The development of DVB-T standard digital television broadcasting is being carried out within the framework of the State Program for the Implementation of Digital Television and Radio Broadcasting in Belarus until 2015. The State Program is aimed at improving the quality of television program broadcasting services, increasing the efficiency of radio frequency resource utilization, energy saving, ensuring the population's access to the state mandatory universally accessible package of digital television programs, and mastering the production of new types of receiving and transmitting television equipment.

To receive the mandatory universally accessible package of television programs, a television set with DVB-T standard and MPEG-4 encoding support or a digital set-top box with similar parameters, which connects to a regular TV, is required. A help desk has been created to inform the public about the transition to digital terrestrial television broadcasting, which can be reached by dialing the short number 172.