LISBON: Portugal’s Minister of Culture said that there are plans to expand the offer of TV channels on DTT and that such a possibility is being studied with the relevant authorities, regulators and broadcasters. Speaking during a parliamentary committee hearing, Luís Castro Mendes said that the government is maintaining an “open position” and that the number of channels will depend on technical factors.
According to him, the government’s objective is that public channels RTP3 and RTP Memória are available on DTT, but it would also like that commercial broadcasters get additional access to DTT, something on which they are “already working on”. Mendes’s comments came only days after TVI consultant, José Eduardo Moniz, warned that the process of introduction of DTT in Portugal ended up having telecom operators as protagonists.
Moniz also suggested new models to increase to monetize and improve the DTT offer.He pointed out that viewers who have pay-TV are not interested in the current DTT model and would only be attracted by a “substantial offer at an affordable price”. Portugal has one of the most modest DTT offers in Western Europe, with only five TV channels: RTP1, RTP2, SIC, TVI, and Canal Parlamento. PT Portugal is the national DTT network operator.
