SUVA (Pacific Media Watch / Fiji Live / Radio New Zealand / Islands Business / Advanced Television): Fiji is set to migrate to digital television.
Fiji Live reported that a national digital television platform would be created by government and handed over to the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation to manage.
"The new platform will initially extend the coverage of all broadcast channels to 94 percent of the population, marking a drastic improvement over the current levels of coverage," Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said.
It will improve the quality of TV signals, and boost the number of channels available to all viewers. A new transmission company will be formed where broadcasters could lease one or more digital frequencies for fixed annual fees which would be the same for all, the Advanced Television news website reported.
Fijians will need to buy a set top box to watch TV after the migration from analogue to digital is complete.
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation chief executive Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said his organisation would have to ensure that the platform was "up and running 100 percent of the time".
"Because we will not only be responsible for ourselves anymore as in FBC but we will be responsible for every other TV carrier that may rent or lease off this new company which will be a subsidiary of FBC," he told the FBC.
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