Switzerland becomes Europe's sixth switch-off state

摘要

Switzerland completed digital switchover on Monday when analogue terrestrial transmissions were terminated in the French-speaking region of Valais. The country became the sixth in Europe to successfully make the transition from analogue to digital, following switch-ofFin Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Andorra. Public service broadcaster SRG SSR idee suisse said that the 19-month switchover programme had been completed with few problems and on schedule. Switzerland started switch-off in the small Italian-speaking region of Ticino on July 24, 2006 and there were some initial glitches caused by the difficulty of providing coverage in some mountainous regions. "People returned to their homes in the mountains to see only a black screen," the broadcaster said. "There were some small problems in the valleys, but those have now been solved." The broadcaster, which led the switchover process, attributed the relatively smooth transition from analogue to digital to an extensive information campaign. In the months leading up to switchover, transmitters broadcast a warning on all terrestrial television channels about the imminent switch-off, which was then removed once a digital set-top box or television set was connected.