RAI Moves up Launch of DVB-T2 HEVC Broadcasts

The Italian public broadcaster RAI will start broadcasting on Multiplex B in the DVB-T2 HEVC standard on August 28, according to Marco Rossignoli, president of Aeranti-Corallo, an Italian association representing around 150 local television broadcasters.

In particular, Rai Storia, Rai Scuola and Rai Radio 2 Visual programs channels will be broadcast exclusively in this new standard. Within this mux, Rai 1 HD, Rai 2 HD and Rai 3 HD will also be broadcast in simulcast (in DVB-T2 HEVC) on channels 501, 502 and 503, the association said.

The August 28th transition marks the first move towards DVB-T2 transmissions, which will provide increased bandwidth that could allow broadcasters to simulcast more channels.

While many Italian TV sets are not capable of receiving DVB-T2, the final switchover is currently required to be completed by the end of the 2025.

Rossignoli explained that "at this point, the transition to the new technology can no longer be postponed, in order to allow the local broadcaster to have adequate transmission capacity for broadcasting of its programs in high definition. To date, in fact, with the current DVB-T/MPEG-4 transmissions, the local television broadcaster has too little radio space to be able to transmit programs with adequate technical quality. We need to accelerate the transition of the entire Italian television system to the new standard."