The information was announced by the Ministry of Information and Communication at a press conference in Hanoi on August 12.
According to the Prime Minister’s Decision 2451-QD-TTg approving the scheme on the digitisation of the transmission of terrestrial television broadcasting by 2020, the five cities of Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, HCM City, and Can Tho were to digitise terrestrial TV and cease analogue broadcasting before December 31, 2015.
Deputy Minister Phan Tam said the National Steering Committee for Television Broadcasting Digitisation encountered a number of difficulties while carrying out the TV digitisation project for impoverished families and those living just above the poverty line.
Therefore, the committee selected Da Nang as the first city to cease analogue broadcasting before December 31, 2015, he said, adding that to ensure better coverage of digital television, the schedule to halt analogue broadcasting in the remaining cities was delayed to August 15, 2016.
Da Nang replaced analogue with digital terrestrial TV from November 1, 2015.
Digital terrestrial TV has been broadcast across Hanoi, Hai Phong, HCM City, and Can Tho. Locals are able to enjoy up to 70 free TV channels.
Most people in the localities have switched to watching digital terrestrial TV programmes from analogue.
More than 413,500 poor and near-poor households in the four cities have been supported to gain access to digital TV.
