Mapping digital media: Spain
"Since 2005, Spain has designed and implemented aggressive digitization policies that secured the switchoff of analog television in 2010, and developed the digital terrestrial television (DTT) market to saturation point. As a result, cable and satellite subscription services have experienced so...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Institution: | ETUI-European Trade Union Institute |
| Format: | TEXT |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York
2012
Open Society Foundations |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19105387124919235699-Mapping-digital-media-Spain.htm |
| Summary: | "Since 2005, Spain has designed and implemented aggressive digitization policies that secured the switchoff of analog television in 2010, and developed the digital terrestrial television (DTT) market to saturation point. As a result, cable and satellite subscription services have experienced some decline since 2008. Th e rapid rise of free-to-air (FTA) digital television has not, however, been replicated in radio, where take-up of the assigned digital audio broadcasting (DAB) standard has been marginal, with little promise of imminent signifi cant growth. Th is is attributed to a policy focus on digital television, the absence of a digital radio publicity campaign and a switch-off deadline, and the cost of upgrading to digital radio faced by consumers and broadcasters alike. Like digital television, the roll-out of broadband infrastructure has been successful, accounting for 99 percent of all fi xed-line connections in 2010. But the consumers’ cost of connection remains one of the highest in the European Union (EU), and an enduring digital divide is refl ected in the fact that fi xed-line internet connections reached only 22 percent of households in 2010. Th e most competitive broadband and television package prices are on average more than 20 percent dearer than comparable packages in other EU countries. Th ere are signs that mobile broadband might help to plug this gap, with substantive year-on-year growth in take-up of 3G services and smartphones since 2008." |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 134 p. Digital |