ANACOM - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações will host a public information session on Digital Terrestrial Television, in Alenquer, on Tuesday, 29th March. The session, which has the support of Alenquer’s Municipal Council, will be held at the Auditório Damião de Góis, located in Rua dos Bombeiros Voluntários.
The session will be divided into three parts. The first part, held during the morning, will be attended by representatives from Instituições Particulares de Solidariedade Social (Private Institutions of Social Solidarity), organisations which, given their position in society, can make an important contribution in this process, providing information to the people they come into contact with, who will be affected by the process of transition to digital television.
Also in the morning, a session will be held for the professional public, consisting of electrical retailers, installers and electricians.
The session for the general public will take place at 2.30pm. The information session will be attended by Edward Cardadeiro, a member of ANACOM's Management Board, Jorge Riso, Mayor of Alenquer, as well as other members of ANACOM's management.
This session is the first that ANACOM will host on DTT, with the aim of informing the different sections of the Portuguese public about the process of migration to digital terrestrial television. Alenquer was chosen as a venue for the session due to the fact that this location has been selected as one of the pilot zones where the analogue signal will be switched off first, before the end of this year. In Alenquer, the switch-off of the analogue signal is scheduled to take place on 12 May. Cacém will follow on 16 June, and then Nazaré on 13 October.
Currently, the entire Portuguese population is covered by digital terrestrial television, so that anyone who wants to can already start receiving this new way of watching television. Digital television provides better picture and sound quality over current television, and also enables new features such as access to an electronic programme guide, and the ability to pause the picture and record programmes.
Anyone who has a subscription television service does not need to do anything to start receiving DTT. Also, if you already have a television set which is compatible with the MPEG 4 standard, you do not need to do anything to adapt it to DTT, simply connect the aerial cable to your television and you will start receiving the digital signal. If your television is not compatable and you do not want to buy a new television set, you can continue to use the one you have by acquiring a set-top-box. In this case, you will need to connect the aerial cable to the set-top-box, and connect the set-top-box to your television set using a SCART cable.
The reception of digital terrestrial television does not entail any subscription to a paid television service, and so you will not need to pay any monthly charges.
The aerials installed on roofs are, in most cases, already suitable for receiving digital terrestrial television.
