With only one day left for the residents of Thimphu to switch to the digital cable television system, the households that have not done so will not receive their television signals from March 1.
The Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA) will shut down analogue and switch to digital television.
The deadline was extended twice upon the request from the government and cable operators.
As of January this year, around 17,000 cable users have switched to digital television in Thimphu.
BICMA says there are still around 30 per cent households, who are yet to switch to digital cable.
“It’s high time we switch to digital cable system. We have been using analogue since 1999. It will not just be in Thimphu but throughout all the dzongkhags, gewogs and chiwogs,” Wangay Dorji, the Officiating Director General of BICMA, said.
The move is expected to offer high definition picture quality, fewer disturbances, and prevent illegal and multiple tapping of cable lines in the country.
For digital cable, one needs set-top box beside their television. Set-top Box also offers channel packages according to user’s needs. Therefore, a person can pay only for the channels that they choose to watch.
“Other than cable service, we don’t have any other additional service. But now after this, users will have access to other services like internet through cable, video on demand which we can’t through analogue,” Wangay Dorji said.
He added that the household with more than one television set should have an individual set-top box.
The authority aims to switch to digital cable in all the dzongkhags by the end of this year.
