Digital terrestrial television in Denmark

Last updated

Digital terrestrial television in Denmark was technically launched in March 2006 after some years of public trials. The official launch was at midnight on 1 November 2009, when analogue broadcasts ceased nationwide. [1] [2]

Contents

As of June 2020, five national multiplexes are available. [3] MUX 1 is owned by DR but operated by Cibicom A/S. They broadcast free-to-air channels only. MUX 2 - 5 are owned and operated by Norlys broadcasting encrypted pay-TV only. [4]

History

Pre-launch

In 1999, a trial was launched in Copenhagen and Zealand. Another trial was launched in 2002 on northern Jutland, broadcasting the three public service channels and an experimental regional channel called "TV 2/Nord-Digital".

In June 2005, a broad majority consisting of Venstre, the Conservative People's Party, the Social Democrats, the Radical Liberal Party, the Socialist People's Party and Danish People's Party agreed that the analogue broadcasts would cease in October 2009.

National launch

The technical launch was made on 31 March 2006, after some months of national trials with one multiplex covering the entire country. It offered the national analogue channels DR1 and TV 2, as well as DR2, a stream for signed simulcasts of news programmes on the three other channels and the MHP services DR extra and TV 2 Extra. On 19 February 2008 DR Update started broadcasting on the simulcast channel when this channel was not used for simulcasting (between 17:00 and 20:00). The multiplex was operated by DIGI-TV I/S, a joint-venture between DR and TV 2.

On 11 June 2007 the Danish Ministry of Culture announced that the six parties had agreed on how the extension of the network of a total of 8 multiplexes would continue. Four multiplexes (MUX 3-6) would be given to a commercial gatekeeper which would be required to have a varied offering and would be chosen through a "beauty contest". DIGI-TV, would be given another multiplex, MUX 2, in addition to its MUX 1. MUX 2 would be carrying the children and culture channel from DR, a parliament channel, more airtime for the TV 2 regions and community television. [5] MUX7 was on 29 June 2009 allocated to use for mobile broadband, set to launch in 2013. [6] [7] The fate of MUX8 was not decided.

On 27 March 2008 Boxer got the gatekeeper rights for MUX 3, 4 and 5. [8] Boxer went on-air on 2 February 2009 with its three commercial multiplexes. [9] The commercial gatekeeper would be required to carry at least one channel from neighbouring countries and a local channel. A maximum of 25 percent of the capacity could be used for "high-pay" channels (such as Canal+). [10]

The official launch was made on 1 November 2009, which also marked the launch of the new public channels DR Ramasjang, DR K, DR HD (replaced by DR3 in January 2013) and a 24‑hour version of DR Update (replaced by DR Ultra in March 2013). [11] Also on this day, Copenhagen-based company Open Channel Aps launched a trial multiplex, "MUXCPH", with local channels such as Kanal København. [12]

Post-launch

Expansion

Boxer got its fourth multiplex: MUX6 on 1 November 2010. The conditions at the time were that 15% of the capacity should be given to DR. 35% to other companies, where Boxer were free to use the remaining 50% themselves for DVB-H-services. [13] However, these conditions were dropped on 10 August 2012. [14] It was announced MUX6 would use DVB-T2 for HDTV, set to launch in October 2013. [15] On 26 September 2013 Boxer launched its fourth multiplex - MUX6 - which uses DVB-T2 with MPEG-4. [16]

On 1 July 2011 the Danish Ministry of Culture announced that MUX8 were to be used for digital TV. [17] A gatekeeper as well as a launch date for MUX8 has yet to be announced. [18]

On 1 November 2012 Open Channel's trial of MUXCPH was replaced with the trial of a new DVB-T2 trial multiplex, MUXCPH-2. Now broadcasting both local channel Kanal København as well as international channel France 24, from the TDC radio tower at Borups Alle in the center of Copenhagen, the signal can be received by more than 700,000 households. [19] [20] In April 2013, Open Channel got permission to reuse the first MUXCPH for a new DVB-T2 mux with HEVC coding and HbbTV capabilities. [21]

High-definition

On 11 January 2012 the free-to-air MUX1 switched from MPEG-2 to the newer MPEG-4 codec standard. [22] This made it possible to broadcast DR1 and the TV 2 regional channels in 720p HD. [23] Later in the year, on April 1 the commercial MUX5 converted broadcasting from DVB-T to DVB-T2 to use for HDTV. [24] A further focus was placed on HD when, on 5 April 2016, Boxer stopped simulcasting HD and SD versions of the same channels, focusing on HD versions only. In late 2016 and early 2017 DIGI-TV made changes to their two multiplexes making it possible to launch both DR2 and DR K in 720p HD. [25] [26]

2020 changes

In May 2017, the Ministry of Culture proposed two scenarios on what the terrestrial television infrastructure in Denmark could look like after 3 April 2020 when Boxer's gatekeeper rights expire, and the 700 MHz band switches from TV to mobile broadband. [27] In scenario A, all 5 UHF multiplexes and the single VHF multiplex would be given to the gatekeeper, with the condition of broadcasting free-to-air channels from DR and TV 2. In scenario B, a single UHF multiplex would be given to Digi-TV (the joint-venture between DR and TV 2) to be used for free-to-air broadcasting. The remaining 4 UHF multiplexes as well as the single VHF multiplex would be given to the gatekeeper. In both scenarios it is expected that every multiplex will use DVB-T2 and HEVC. [28]

In December 2017, it was announced that scenario B had been chosen, and a new gatekeeper for minimum 4 multiplexes will be chosen through a "beauty contest" which ran through 5 March 2018. [29] [30] On 13 March 2018, the current gatekeeper Boxer was announced as being the only applicant. [31] On 6 June 2018, Boxer was announced as the winner, and they would continue to be the gatekeeper after 3 April 2020. [32]

As part of a new media agreement by the Folketing in 2018 with a permanent lower budget for DR, DR announced in 2019 that three of their free-to-air channels would close. [33] On January 2 2020 DR3, DR K, and DR Ultra ceased broadcasting. [34]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was announced that the national switch-over to DVB-T2 would be postponed to June 2. [35] The argument being that some people (especially the elderly) would not have purchased DVB-T2 equipment, and would be left with no means of keeping up-to-date with new information regarding the pandemic.

On 2 June 2020 the number of available multiplexes decreased from 6 to 5, with a switch-over from DVB-T to DVB-T2 on all 5 multiplexes. [36] This made it possible to broadcast DR Ramasjang in HD. [37] The joint-venture DIGI-TV shut down, with the ownership of MUX1 transferred to DR.

In October 2021 Boxer was folded into parent company Norlys and the name Boxer was dropped. [38]

Current channels

As of 1 March 2024. [39] [40]

LCNChannel MUX
1. DR1 HD 1
2. TV 2 HD 2
3. DR2 HD 1
4. DR Ramasjang HD 1
5. TV3 HD 2
6. Kanal 5 HD 2
7. TV 2 NEWS HD 3
8. TV3+ HD 2
9. TV3 Puls HD 4
10. Kanal 4 HD 5
11. TV 2 Charlie HD 3
12. TV 2 Fri HD 3
13. DK4 HD 2
14. TV 2 Echo HD 3
15. Investigation Discovery HD 4
16. 6'eren HD 5
17. Canal 9 HD 5
18. TV 2 Sport HD 3
19. TV 2 Sport X HD 3
20. TV3 Sport HD 4
21. TV3 MAX HD 4
22. Eurosport 1 HD 5
23. Eurosport 2 HD 5
24.See HD4
25. Discovery HD 5
26. National Geographic HD 4
27. Animal Planet HD 5
28. TLC HD 4
29. Nickelodeon 3
30. Disney Channel HD 3
31. National Geographic Wild 5
32. NickMusic 2
33. TV 2 Regionerne HD 1
34. ZDF 3
35. SVT1 2
36. NRK1 2
37. FOLKETINGET HD 1
38.Tegnsprog/lokal-tv1
39. DR1 Synstolkning HD (audio description)1
40. DR2 Synstolkning HD (audio description)1

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DVB</span> Open standard for digital television broadcasting

Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in February 1998. This system transmits compressed digital audio, digital video and other data in an MPEG transport stream, using coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulation. It is also the format widely used worldwide for Electronic News Gathering for transmission of video and audio from a mobile newsgathering vehicle to a central receive point. It is also used in the US by Amateur television operators.

Digital terrestrial television is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technological advancement over analog television, and has largely replaced analog television broadcasting, which was previously in common use since the middle of the 20th century.

Boxer TV Access is a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB providing pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Sweden. Modeled on the British ITV Digital, it was founded in October 1999. Some channels on the Swedish DTT are free-to-air, but most of the channels require subscription from Boxer. Boxer has claimed to have around 500,000 subscribers by June 2016 when it was acquired by ComHem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DR (broadcaster)</span> Danish public service broadcaster

DR, officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise. DR is a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union.

TV 2 Film was a 24-hour two-star movie channel owned by TV 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in Hungary</span>

Television in Hungary was introduced in 1957. Transmission in colour was introduced to Hungarian television for the first time in 1971. Hungary had only one television channel until 1973. It was only in the mid 1990s when private and commercial broadcasting was introduced to Hungary.

DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television. DVB has been standardized by ETSI.

Digital terrestrial television was launched in Sweden in 1999. The shutdown of the analogue equivalent started on September 19, 2005, and was finalized on October 15, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TV3 Sport</span> Television channel

TV3 Sport is a Danish sports television channel, owned by Viaplay Group and operated by TV3 SPORT. The channel originally broadcast as TV 2 SPORT and was a joint-venture between TV 2 and Modern Times Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norkring</span>

Norkring AS is a provider of digital terrestrial television and radio transmitting in Norway and Belgium. In Norway, Norkring operates a Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) network for Norges Televisjon, as well as an FM and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio. In Belgium, Norkring operates a DVB-T, DVB-T2, FM, DAB and DAB+ network. It operated a DVB-T network in Slovenia between 2010 and 2012. Norkring is owned by Telenor; Norkring België is owned 75 percent by Norkring and 25 percent by Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouSee</span> Danish telecommunications provider

YouSee is the largest quadruple play service provider in Denmark, and is a part of Nuuday which is a spun-off company from TDC Group, the largest telecommunications company in Denmark which was split into two separate companies. YouSee currently has 994,000 customers, down from its peak of 1.4 million in 2015.

Digital terrestrial television in Estonia, was officially launched on 15 December 2006, when the operator Zuum TV launched its pay service on two multiplexes. Transmissions are made with MPEG-4 AVC compression using the DVB-T standard. A DVB-T2 standard-based network has been created for HD-quality TV picture transmission.

Television in Poland was introduced on an experimental basis in 1937. It was state owned, and was interrupted by the Second World War in 1939. Television returned to Poland in 1952 and for several decades was controlled by the communist government. Colour television was introduced in Poland in 1971. Private television stations in Poland appeared around the time of the fall of communism, with PTV Echo becoming the first private station in Poland.

Boxer TV A/S is a company that is broadcasting pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Denmark since February 1, 2009. It is a subsidiary of Boxer TV Access, a Swedish company which is owned by Com Hem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canal 9 (Danish TV channel)</span> Danish TV channel

Canal 9 is a Danish pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA previously owned by C More Entertainment from 2009 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DR K</span> Television channel

DR K was a Danish free-to-air television channel owned by state broadcaster DR. Its programming was centred towards culture and history.

Eska TV is a free-to-air 24-hour Polish language music channel launched on August 8, 2008, in Poland. In the beginning the channel was only on the Internet. After receiving the license for satellite broadcasting, 28 May 2009 got to offer DTH platform n. April 26, 2011 received a concession for digital terrestrial broadcasting. The channel will be in the first DTT multiplex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVP Rozrywka</span> Television channel

TVP Rozrywka is a Polish free-to-air television channel. It was launched on 15 April 2013 and focuses its programming on entertainment TV series.

References

  1. ↑ "Video - Analogt sluk i Danmark okt. 2009". recordere.dk. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "THE DANISH DVB-T NETWORK". Digi-tv. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sendemaster og frekvenser" (PDF). Norlys.
  4. ↑ "Sendenettets opbygning". DIGI-TV. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Større tv-udbud og mere konkurrence mellem de forskellige platforme fra 2009, Kulturministeriet, June 11, 2007, archived from the original on August 26, 2007
  6. ↑ "Forstyrrelser af tv og 800 MHz". Erhvervsstyrelsen. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Notat om konkrete anvendelsesmuligheder for MUX 8". Kulturministeriet. Retrieved 16 January 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ "Boxer udnævnt som gatekeeper". TVnyt.com. 27 March 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Boxer TV er i luften". Tvnyt.com. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Beslutningspapir tiltrådt af partierne bag medieaftale 2007-2010 d. 11 juni 2007 - Retningslinier for utbud af digitalt tv mv. (PDF), Kulturministeriet, June 11, 2007[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Danmark skifter tv-signal den 1. november 2009". DR. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "MUXCPH". Open Channel ApS. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  13. ↑ "Boxer får sin fjerde MUX". TVnyt.com. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  14. ↑ Brinck, Ulrik (10 August 2012). "Boxer slipper for DVB-H". TVnyt.com. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  15. ↑ Fredborg, Bo (2 May 2013). "Boxer lancerer flere HDTV kanaler til oktober" . Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  16. ↑ Fredborg, Bo. "Boxer tilføjer TV 2 Fri HD og Canal8 – test af ny Mux starter i dag". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  17. ↑ "BESLUTNING OM ANVENDELSEN AF MUX 8". KULTURMINISTERIET. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  18. ↑ Ladingkær, Lars (1 July 2011). "MUX8 skal bruges til TV". Recordere.dk. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  19. ↑ "MUXCPH-2 Next generation of mobile TV, based on the new standard DVB-T2 | T2 Lite". Open Channel. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  20. ↑ Nielsen, Stig (31 October 2012). "France 24 skifter til DVB-T2". TVnyt.com. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  21. ↑ Briel, Robert (5 April 2013). "HEVC and HbbTV trial on DTT Copenhagen". Broadband TV News. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  22. ↑ "Kravene til modtageudstyr fra 11. januar 2012". Kulturministeriet. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  23. ↑ Larsen, Rasmus (3 February 2011). "TV2 REGIONS-KANALERNE OMDANNES TIL HD". Flatpanels.dk. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  24. ↑ "Boxer lancerer HDTV - skifter delvist til DVB-T2". Flatpanels. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  25. ↑ Kjærsgaard, Bo (28 February 2017). "DR2 nu i HD på tv-antennen DVB-T". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  26. ↑ Kjærsgaard, Bo (13 December 2016). "DR K nu i HD opløsning på DVB-T nettet". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  27. ↑ Kjærsgaard, Bo (26 May 2017). "To modeller i spil i ny DVB-T Gatekeeper tilladelse". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  28. ↑ Madsen, Thomas. "Regeringen vil finde ny tv-gatekeeper inden for et år". Mediawatch. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  29. ↑ "UDBUD AF JORDBASEREDE DIGITALE TV-SENDEMULIGHEDER (DTT)". Slots- og kulturstyrelsen. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  30. ↑ Kjærsgaard, Bo (21 December 2017). "Nu kan der bydes på DTT Gatekeeper tilladelse". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  31. ↑ Madsen, Thomas (13 March 2018). "Boxer står alene som ansøger til ny tv-licens". MediaWatch. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  32. ↑ Kjærsgaard, Bo (6 June 2018). "Boxer TV fortsætter som distributør på det terrestriske sendenet". DIGITALT.TV (in Danish). Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  33. ↑ "DR klar med overblik over program- og kanallukninger". TV2. TV2. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  34. ↑ "Her er datoen og klokkeslæt for lukning af DR3, DRK og DR Ultra". Digitalt.TV. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  35. ↑ "LUKNING AF ANTENNE-TV-SIGNALER UDSKYDES". Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  36. ↑ "Flere tv-kanaler får ny plads i kanallisten fra 2. juni når tv-signalerne omlægges til DVB-T2". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  37. ↑ "DR Ramasjang, TLC og TV 2 Sport X klar i HD fra 2. juni på DVB-T2". Digitalt.tv. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  38. ↑ "Farvel til Boxer – Skal nu hedde Norlys". digitalt.tv. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  39. ↑ "Kanalplaceringer" (PDF). Norlys. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  40. ↑ "Kanalspecifikationer" (PDF). DIGI-TV. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.