Azerbaijan accelerates transition to digital TV

Full transition to digital television format in Azerbaijan is expected by late 2012, Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said on Monday. Previously, full transition was scheduled for 2013.

By late 2011, twelve channels will be transferred to digital broadcasting, Abbasov said. Work in this direction will be also gradually extended next year. According to the ministry’s plans, digital TV will cover 85 percent of the Azerbaijani population by late 2011.

The population will have access to television package, consisting of 11 television channels. In the future commercial packages of 50-60 TV channels will be offered. At present, digital television covers Baku, Ganja, Shirvan, Lerik, Lankaran and nearby areas.

Analog broadcasting will be gradually stopped after the complete coverage of the republic with digital TV signal. Broadcasting of digital content is carried out in MPEG-4. A decoder is needed to transfer to digital TV standard.

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