Debated in Parliament on 10 Sep 2018.
Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) what is the current progress of the conversion to digital TV; and (b) what are the plans to increase awareness and hasten the conversion.
Today, about four in five1 Singaporean households are receiving digital television (DTV) either over the air or through their Pay TV subscription. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is reaching out to the remaining households to get them DTV-ready before analogue TV signals are switched off on 31 December 2018.
In April this year, IMDA launched the DTV Starter Kit to encourage more households to be DTV-ready. The DTV Starter Kit allows Singaporean Housing and Development Board (HDB) households without a Pay TV subscription to redeem an indoor DTV antenna and digital set-top box with free installation, or enjoy $100 off selected DTV equipment at participating electronics stores. As of 31 August 2018, more than 207,000 households have redeemed their DTV Starter Kits. I encourage all households which have not yet redeemed their DTV Starter Kits to do so right away.
IMDA has also been working closely with community partners like the People's Association, the Silver Generation Office and voluntary welfare organisations to help households become DTV-ready. This includes organising roadshows in every town, deploying service counters in high-traffic areas, such as markets, hawker centres and community clubs, and conducting briefings at community events. Since June, Mediacorp has also run on-screen crawlers to inform those who are still viewing analogue channels to switch to DTV. Mediacorp will soon reduce the size of the screen area displaying content on analogue channels, which, we hope, will remind viewers to switch over to DTV early.
PAPERCUTS