GMA Network Inc. said its digital terrestrial television (DTT) service will be available in three major cities in the first half of 2017.
GMA chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon said the DTT service would be initially available in Mega Manila, Cebu and Davao by the first half next year.
“At the moment we are experimenting. As to the technical it’s already completed,” Gozon said.
The broadcast network was also in talks with PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. for its digital TV service.
Gozon said the company planned to offer at least four digital TV channels.
The network would initially spend P416 million on transmitter facilities for the DTT project.
The amount covers three high-powered transmitters and their related antenna and connectivity requirements and a fully-mirrored head-end system, which is a master facility for grouping and digitally encoding programs.
GMA is adopting the Japanese DTV standard or ISDB-T in compliance with the rules and regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission.
GMA’s technology arm GMA New Media Inc. unveiled a prototype of the Network’s DTT product at the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) Digiconn.
The device can enable digital broadcast services on analog TV while transforming the unit into a smart TV capable of playing on-demand content and running different applications.
Gozon said GMA’s DTT product would not only be different but better than what the competitor introduced in the market.
Rival ABS-CBN Corp. has more than two million TVPlus users, the network’s DTT service.
