GMA to roll out digital receiver by Q4

GMA Network Inc. expects to commercially roll out its digital terrestrial service by the third or fourth quarter of the year, in line with the government-led shift from analog to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) service.

“Siguro mga third or fourth quarter,” GMA Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Felipe S. Yalong told reporters on the sidelines of the Digital TV Summit 2017 in Quezon City.

The company’s DTTB service was announced in May 2016.

In October, GMA unveiled a digital receiver prototype capable of transforming screens into smart TVs.

The company has allotted an initial spending budget of P416 million to the project.

“That amount is mainly for the transmission ... We don’t have any specific plan yet. What’s definite is that we will be able to come up with our DTT signal hopefully within the year,” Yalong said.

With the shift to digital television service, Yalong said the company is considering putting up more channels.

“With DTT tech, it may be an option that we have to consider. That’s being studied very well right now. Probably later on we will be announcing something. The plan is to come up with more channels we can operate under the DTT shift,” he said.

The government on Tuesday said it wants to phase out analog television by 2023, to fully migrate the industry to DTTB in the next six years. — VDS, GMA News