Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 23 / Trend E. Ismayilov/
Azerbaijan is close to transition to digital television, National Television and Radio Council Head Nushirevan Meherremli said Friday during the conference on digital TV.
He said digital TV transition has a range of positive sides, first of all in terms of frequency saving.
If each channel broadcasts on one frequency in an analog mode, after transiting to digital broadcasting all 12 channels will be able to broadcast using one frequency, Meherremli told.
He named broadcasting quality and coverage as the second positive factor.
After the transition to digital broadcasting all channels' coverage will be the same as the Azerbaijan State Television, which is the country's only broadcaster enjoying the maximum coverage for now.
Meherremli also called additional opportunities that digital broadcasting will bring as another positive factor. In particular, opportunity of program encoding, placement of data concerning city's transportation system, shops, etc.
Meherremli said the most important milestone is the interests of low-income population because transition implies purchase of new televisions or special decoders.
He appealed to private entrepreneurs to provide for importation of televisions in MPEG4 format as well as importation and production of receivers and decoders needed for the operation of analog format televisions in digital mode.