Production Association Teleradio of Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies will begin broadcasting commercial television channels from mid-2012, Mikail Abbasov Technical Director told. According to Abbasov, a new base station is established in Baku for this purpose.
It will be put into operation after state-level decision is made. "The tariffs for paid channels, which will be broadcast through the infrastructure, Teleradio, will be determined by the Tariff Board. And it will not exceed the tariffs now offered by cable TV operators in Azerbaijan," Abbasov said.
There is an opportunity to broadcast 12 programs, on the same channel. According to Abbasov, it is a benefit package, which includes all local television channels. At the moment, Teleradio launched 34 TV stations in test mode. In general, the technical infrastructure of the production association allows broadcasting up to 60 TV channels.
"Their number will depend on the final decision of the National Council on Television and Radio," Abbasov said. Broadcasting of digital content, which today covers 85 percent of the population, carried out in the MPEG-4 format. For the transition to digital broadcasting subscribers will need to purchase a decoder.