After a long delay, Malaysia will finally announce the new switch-off date for the analogue terrestrial TV broadcast very soon. This was confirmed by Gobind Singh Deo, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia Minister earlier today in a response to media at the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union Digital Broadcasting Symposium 2019.
According to the minister, he hopes that the government is able to announce the full transition to digital next month or by the middle of the year, at the latest. The minister further added that it is a topic that has been discussed between him and his counterparts throughout the region.
During the opening speech of the symposium, Gobind has also stated that the government has made significant investments to prepare the infrastructures that are involved in the transition.
The minister has also highlighted the efforts that have been done by RTM in order to be part of the digital era. This includes the development of its online streaming platform, myklik which can be accessed throughout the world as well as the availability of RTM channels and Integrated Broadband Broadcast service via Malaysia’s digital TV transmission.
While the actual switch-off date was not mentioned today, it is a long time coming since it was supposed to take place in 2018. Nevertheless, the delay could be a blessing in disguise though.
If there’s any lesson that we could learn from MYTV and TM commercial dispute last November, there are still kinks need to be ironed out before our digital TV transmission is ready for everyone.
