Some people meet this morning when trying to watch one of the TVE channels, that those who tuned in and showed the signal until yesterday are no longer showing any content today. The impact of this disappearance is probably low, but I’m betting that it has particularly affected the elderly, and that its impact (although not yet perceived as such) will be more noticeable. people visit their second homes.

As you may already know (well, if you watch TV because more and more people have switched to on-demand content), For several years now, channels have preferred their broadcasts in HD (High Definition) versus what we call SD (Standard Definition), something that home TV has been updated for over the years. However, there are still devices in use (some even connected to external DTT decoders) that do not support HD picture quality and therefore cannot display these channels.

So, These are the affected devices and are covered by Royal Decree 391/2019, which included the approval of the National Technical Plan for Digital Terrestrial Television. In it, for example, the second digital dividend, which we already informed you about in 2020, was considered, with the aim of freeing up part of the radio spectrum for the deployment of 5G networks. And in this text we also find (specifically in Article 7, Section 2), the following:

«All TV channels, regardless of the extent of their coverage, must convert their broadcasts to high definition by February 14, 2024»

So what happened today is this TVE has already adapted to this change and ended its broadcasting in SD. Now it is important to remember that what happened today with the channels of the national entity will be repeated within three days at the latest by the remaining TV channels in Spain, since the above text makes it clear that the measures apply to all broadcasts regardless of their geographical scope .

As I say, This change should not affect too many users, as most of the current fleet of TVs are compatible with the HD signal (my TV at home was bought in 2008 and was already on sale at that time, since it was two years earlier, if I remember correctly, and it displays the HD signal without problems). However, I know of at least one close case (as I said, an elderly person) who was affected by the disappearance of TVE’s SD channels, and who will therefore also be left without a trace in the coming days.

If you are one of the affected people, I am very afraid that you will have no choice but to change the TV.and considering that the day SD goes off the air is actually Valentine’s Day (even though TVE moved forward a few days), what better excuse reason to get (or get) a new TV? And to help you with that, don’t forget that every week we bring you the best deals you can find on the internet with our Red Fridays.

Royal Decree / More information