In 2016, 6.9 million households depended on analog TV
February 22, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: March 02, 2018 06h39 PM
About 6.9 million households in the country (10.3% of the total) still depended on the analog signal to watch open TV in the fourth quarter of 2016. This was found out by the IBGE's Continuous PNAD - Information and Communication Technology, on Wednesday. The module of the survey also includes data on Internet access and cell phone ownership.
It would not be possible for people in those homes to watch TV in case the shutdown of the analog signal took place. The shutdown is expected to happen in the whole country until 2023. Those homes do not have a pay-TV service, a digital signal converter or a satellite dish.
"Our intention is to map the regions that have no alternative to disconnection, so that the government can act and prevent these households from being blacked out, without TV," explains survey manager Maria Lucia Vieira.
The process will be on for another five years, but the shutdown is already taking place in several locations throughout the country this year. By the end of 2018, the analog signal will have been shut down in approximately 1,400 Brazilian municipalities.
"These data are certainly different today, for sure. The delays [in the shutdown schedule] that happened in the past were isolated and of little time. The fact that we are turning off the signal in regions like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro without a single complaint shows that these numbers have evolved a lot from 2016 to here," explains Moisés Queiroz Moreira, Secretary of Broadcasting of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications.
Survey shows regional differences
The situation is different regionally. While the Southeast (8.6%), South (9.1%) and Central-West (8.3%) are less dependent on the open analog signal, North (14.9%) and Northeast (13.1%) are a little behind in this transition.
"North and Northeast have the highest percentages of households that do not yet have this structure. They are the regions that have the poorest households, so they do not have such modern gadgets. TV sets started to leave the factory with converters no sooner than 2011," explains Maria Lucia. "Pay-TV is still an expensive service, so in the South and Southeast it is more common. As to parabolic dishes, the North and Northeast have greater percentages because they are a cheaper means of access to the digital signal. Besides, there is also the structural issue of cabling."
In addition to showing the current picture of the analog to digital signal transition, this module of the Continuous PNAD will play the role of a speed monitor of the process in the coming years. "This survey will help us build a time series, showing the whole evolution of this process, which has been very successful," concludes Moisés.
