Bulgaria To Seek Extension of Analog Broadcasting Switch-off Deadline
Bulgaria will seek to postpone the switch from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting as it currently cannot afford the related costs, the country's finance minister Simeon Dyankov said.
Bulgaria has pledged to the EU phase out analog broadcasting by September 1, 2013. In the immediate run-up to the switch-off, there should be a six-month period of simultaneous analog and digital transmissions.
Initial estimates put the funds needed for the digital switch at around 300 million levs ($188.1 million/153.4 million euro). This is the sum that the country's defense ministry has requested in order to vacate the relevant frequency spectrum, local daily Dnevnik reported on Wednesday.
"There is not enough money for this in the state budget," Dnevnik quoted Dyankov as saying.
Transport minister Ivaylo Moskovski has been tasked with examining how other EU member states, which also have to switch to digital broadcasting by September 1, 2013, are dealing with the issue.