Analog TV Broadcast In Medan Turned Off July 30, Migration To Digital TV

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) said that the broadcast area of North Sumatra-1 or Medan and its surroundings is ready to migrate analog TV broadcasts to digital TV or Analog Switch Off (ASO) on July 30, 2023.

"Medan plans to implement ASO on July 30, 2023 at 24.00 local time, where the distribution position of the Set Top Box (STB) for the Poor Household has reached 70 percent today," said the Director of Broadcasting of the Ministry of Communication and Information, Geryantika Kurnia, as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 4.

In the data compiled by the Ministry of Communication and Information, it is known that the number of STB assistance that has been received by the public in the Sumatra broadcast area as of July 3, 2023 has reached 66,077 devices out of the total need of 94,487 devices.

It is estimated that within the next three weeks, the remaining amount of assistance that has not been provided has been received by recipients with a total realized assistance of 92 percent.

In terms of penetration of national digital TV broadcasts conducted by Nielsen on July 1, 2023, currently Indonesia in 11 cities of digital TV broadcast penetration has reached almost 80 percent.

Meanwhile, in terms of television station readiness, there are currently 668 television stations that broadcast digitally and only 19 television stations are broadcasting analogs and are currently in the process of broadcasting digitally.

"It is hoped that after ASO in Medan, digital TV penetration nationally will go to normal and TVR (TV rating) will be normal," said Gery.

In comparison, the number of TV viewers in 11 major cities before ASO reached 59 million.

Meanwhile, currently, digital TV viewers as of July 1, 2023, are known to have reached 56 million.

The national achievement before ASO was discovered the number of analog TV viewers reached 130 million, and currently after the migration of analog TV to digital TV, there have been 124 million viewers who enjoy digital TV broadcasts.

In particular, after digital TV broadcasts took place, Nielsen noted that people love four types of content, namely news, children's entertainment, sports, and soap operas.

According to Gery, this condition shows that analog TV broadcasts have been abandoned and the public is getting more comfortable with digital TV broadcasts.

It is hoped that Medan and its surroundings will follow success in previous big cities such as Makassar, Jabodetabek, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya, Palembang, Bali, and Banjarmasin.

"Seeing the above readiness, it is hoped that the National ASO will be completed no later than Indonesian Independence Day as the most beautiful gift from broadcasting stakeholders," said Gery.