Up to 170,000 households to get financial support for digital TV upgrade: Yaacob

SINGAPORE — Up to 170,000 households could receive some form of financial aid to mitigate the cost of migrating to digital television, with the low-income group to get help with almost the full cost, said Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday.

Digital TV transmission is expected to be rolled out to all Singapore households by 2020. Those who subscribe to pay-TV already enjoy digital TV at home, regardless of where they live. For others, they will require an Integrated Digital TV (IDTV) — a TV with a built-in digital tuner — or a set-top box, which retails at about S$129, to tune in to the digital channels when they become available.

“Certainly, we want low-income households to migrate without having them spend a lot of money, so we hope we can help them by giving them assistance through the set-top box, the antenna and a bit of funding for installation,” said Dr Yaacob during a visit to the Bukit Batok Transmission Centre. Details of the scheme are expected to be announced at the Committee of Supply debate next month.

MediaCorp made all its seven free-to-air TV channels available in digital format last December.

The digital broadcast infrastructure is being rolled out in phases and Bukit Batok was the first estate to be able to receive the channels in the format. Two more estates in Singapore — Ang Mo Kio and Jurong East — can now also do so.

The THK Seniors Activity Centre@Ang Mo Kio is one of the first in the estate to receive digital TV signals after a new set-top box was installed.

THK Seniors Activity Centre@Ang Mo Kio Manager Lin Yau Yeng said: “The analogue signal was not as robust and we were not able to receive the TV signal clearly. Now, the digital signal has helped. The residents are able to come to our centre to enjoy TV, rather than staying at home alone.” SHARON SEE