Free-to-air DTV

ATSC Forum will stop operating by the end of the month

The ATSC promotion group, ATSC Forum, will stop its operations next September 30th. Robert Graves, chairman of the forum, stated that the group would not have the same volume of activities in the region, but that such decision would not impact on the election of any country that had already advanced in its definition process. However, the official is optimistic and believes that the Caribbean and Central American countries will turn to the American standard, especially Dominican Republic.

ATSC Forum's news related to the end of its activities were released the same day Chile announced its Japanese ISDB standard choice, as Brazil, Peru and Argentina have already done. "An increasing number of countries are making their decisions public, and as years pass by, there are fewer companies willing to support the special advocacy work performed by the forum. In general, all these companies manufacture equipment for all standards, therefore, they are less and less worried about the standard to be adopted", Graves explained.

In the region, only Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador have turned to ATSC. Guatemala and Costa Rica have been broadcasting ATSC HDTV since 2006, but have not adopted any standard officially. "We can keep our heads up high because we play a key role in digital TV implementation worldwide", Graves stated.