With the digitisation of cable television services in Thimphu since June 2018, the residents enjoy High-Definition (HD) visuals. The Bhutan InfoCom and Media Authority (BICMA) aims to complete the digitisation of cable TV by the end of this year. Soon, people in the east can look forward to having better quality visual in the coming days. Gearing towards this, local cable operators (LCO) of the five eastern dzongkhags were trained on the digitisation of analog TV recently.
Not many days after the week-long training, most of the LCOs are back to work. More than 25 of them participated in the training and they are ready to provide the digitised cable service.
One of the LCOs in Trashiganng is Tshering Norbu Cable Service. Despite the equipment to digitise the services, the lack of expertise and required knowledge have been a huge challenge. However, they are now ready.
“Now that we have the required skills, we will execute the digitisation works at the earliest,” said Lungtok Thai from the cable service company.
Likewise, in Pema Gatshel, Phuntsho Cable Service, is also confident about the big task that lies ahead.
Phuntsho Choden, the proprietor of the cable service, said most of the customers in the dzongkhag have been asking for a better quality visual but due to limited expertise, the company hasn’t been able to fulfil public demand.
“They have been asking for digitisation of the cable service and we will give it. The equipment is ready and it won’t take much,” she said.
For a person to watch digitised content, the television set has to be connected to a set-top box (STB). And with this, people should be able to watch channels of their choice. The BICMA will soon implement a package system where customers can choose what channels they will watch. The package will come in Gold, Silver, and Platinum with a varying number of channels.
Meanwhile, according to BICMA, of more than 90 LCOs in the country, more than 60 have been digitized. And unlike analog contents, digital TV will transmit better-quality pictures.
The week-long training was organized by the Department of National Human Resource Development under the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources in partnership with a private company.
Sonam Darjay
Edited by Chayku
