Prasar Bharati, India’s largest public broadcasting agency is gradually shutting down the terrestrial analogue transmission of Doordarshan Television network. The agency made the decision to completely phase out the analogue system and move to digital video broadcasting(DVB) last year. However, Doordarshan is facing public protests in different regions owing to several reasons.
Digital Terrestrial Transmission(DTT) Implementation
Doordarshan has been relaying terrestrial analogue signals since 15th September 1959. But this, of course, had limitations like one channel per frequency, delay, ghosting, noise etc. But with the evolution of digital transmission, things have changed a lot. So, Doordarshan also started shifting to digital transmission with Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) in 2003 and Direct To Home(DTH) satellite service in 2004.
Among them, DTT is the alternative which will be replacing the current analogue terrestrial transmission from Doordarshan Kendras. The DTT can provide multiple programme channels, better video and audio quality, availability of signals on mobile and portable devices like handsets/tablets/PCs etc. However, you need a DVB-T2 set-top box or dongle and an antenna for receiving these signals. In addition to TV channels, the DTT can also relay radio signals.
Currently, Doordarshan has set up DTT transmitters in 19 cities and another 44 cities is under consideration. Here is the list of cities for your reference – Ahmedabad, Jalandhar, Aurangabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Chennai, Patna, Cuttack, Raipur, Delhi, Ranchi, Guwahati, Indore, Srinagar, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.
Analogue Transmission Phasing Out
As a part of the digital adoption, the analogue transmitters throughout the country are being phased out. Doordarshan has also guaranteed the digital alternative in the areas covered by the analogue terrestrial transmitters. The Doordarshan Kendra of Thiruvananthapuram was one of the recent(28th February 2018) centers to completely shut down the analogue transmission
“Landmark decision by Prasar Bharati to shutdown analog terrestrial TV transmitters of Doordarshan (DD), which was long pending,” Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan, said in a tweet.
However, it seems, they are now shutting down transmitters in certain localities without implementing the DTT. Due to this unfair move, the public is standing in the way of shutdown process demanding for the DTT alternative. Moreover, the phasing out has posed a threat to the jobs of maintenance and service personnel in these regions.
Remarks
The DTT has several advantages, however, there are some minor drawbacks like it needs a separate equipment for the reception. Moreover for every separate screen a separate DVB-T2 receiver is required. Meanwhile, as a part of the digitalization, Doordarshan has converted most of their classic TV shows to digital format. This means even if you are saying goodbye to the analogue era of Doordarshan, you can watch these nostalgic shows again and bring back memories. Hope the article was informative, Peace!