Singapore’s Free-to-Air Channels to Go Digital by 2013

SINGAPORE: Singapore is migrating all of its free-to-air channels to digital TV by the end of 2013.

MediaCorp will be transmitting all its seven free-to-air channels digitally by the end of next year. Channels 5, 8, Suria and Vasantham will be available in HD by the end of 2013. The remaining three—okto, Channel U and Channel NewsAsia—will start broadcasting in HD in 2016. To ensure a smooth transition, there will be a period of time where both analogue and digital free-to-air TV signals will be broadcast. Singapore will complete the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2020.

“The world is switching from analogue to digital TV broadcasting as digital TV not only offers better image and sound quality, but also frees up scarce spectrum for other services, such as wireless broadband,” said Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, the minister for information, communications and the arts.