70% of respondents have already made the move to digital television and 20% will do so by 26 April

The process of migration to Digital Television in Portugal concludes on 26 April, when all analogue transmitters and relays still broadcasting in Mainland Portugal will be switched off.

Six weeks before the switch off-date, A survey of the homes in mainland Portugal which do not have subscription television services, conducted by Marktest, reveals that 90% of survey respondents are aware of the date of the final switch off, 26 April, while in the interior regions of the country, the proportion of respondents aware of this date rises to 94.2%.

Among respondents who are not yet ready or do not know if they are able to watch digital television, 88% are aware that the final switch off will occur on 26 April.

The survey also indicates that 70% of respondents are properly prepared to receive the digital television signal, while 20% intend to get ready in the next several days. Among homes located in the country's interior, about 62% have digital television reception equipment.

Most of those who are able to receive DTT migrated by acquiring a set-top box only (57%), by purchasing just one new television set (25%) or with an additional DTH Kit for satellite access (4%). About 13% of respondents purchased a new television set and a set-top box.

Of those still unprepared for digital television, about 62% intend to migrate by 26 April. About 11% responded that they did not know whether were going to migrate or not.

Combining those who are already prepared for DTT and those who have expressed their intention to prepare before 26 April, it follows that approximately 90% of homes will be able to receive digital TV on this day.

In terms of homes that are already prepared to receive DTT, the differences reported between the two zones being surveyed, Coastal areas and Interior areas, were minor, at 89.6% and 87.4%, respectively.

Only 7.8% of respondents said they had no intention of making preparations to migrate, either because they do not need to watch television (33.8%) or because they considered the equipment too expensive (29.5%).

Other reasons given include financial difficulties (13.4%) or because they "will decide what to do when no longer able to watch TV" (10.6%).

Meanwhile, 7.5% of dwellings without pay TV services intend to subscribe to the subscription television service before 26 April, while the vast majority of homes, 88.7%, do not intend to subscribe to these services.

Given the rate at which the population has been preparing for the reception of the digital television signal via terrestrial or satellite, it is very possible that, on 26 April, there will no more than a very small number of families left unprepared, who will be temporarily unable to watch television, in light of the high levels of awareness about the process, the markets capacity to respond and the widespread involvement of different agents in the community.

The efforts of the entire population in this final stage is extremely important to achieve this goal.

Related information on ANACOM's website:

DTT dossier http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=344249