Digital TV trial for parts of Fiji to begin on Monday

The public trial of Digital Television for parts of Fiji will start from Monday.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama today drew the channel numbers from a barrel for the three free to air TV stations through the state owned company, Walesi Digital’s lottery.

Bainimarama says this is another milestone for Fiji.

To access the Digital TV platform, people need a Walesi set top box which will be available at a maximum price of $99.95 at selected retail outlets.

People also need a UHF antenna to watch Digital TV.

Bainimarama says the government has allocated 2 million dollars to provide low income households with free set top boxes.

More details will be revealed in the next few days.

After the draw for the Digital TV platform, FBC TV will be on channel one, Fiji One on channel two, FBC 2 on channel three, Mai TV on channel four and Fiji Two on channel five.

Director of Communications Shivnesh Prasad who is looking after the state owned company, Walesi says the forecast cost to have national coverage of Digital TV will be about $17 million.

Bainimarama says Fiji is the first Pacific island government to invest in the infrastructure for Digital TV at the national level.

He says the latest compression technology has the potential to return a better picture quality than what is seen in Australia.

Communications Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they are yet to decide on the fees that the TV stations have to pay to be on the platform.

When asked on how national coverage will be achieved, Sayed-Khaiyum says they will try their best and they are also looking at infrastructure sharing.

Sky Pacific also needs to go on the digital TV platform as part of their license condition.

Sky Pacific is yet to comment on the issue.